Rima Enchanted
by xenophileCorvid
Summary: Rima is used to giving orders, but one day she pushes her luck too far and is visited by her fairy godmother. Now Rima's no longer the one in charge, but instead must obey any order given to her. And she isn't the only one with a curse. Rimahiko
1. In Which Rima Meets her Fairy Godmother

**Summary:** **The gaurdians are now in highschool. Rima has always had servants (fanboys) at her disposal, and is used to giving orders. But one day, when she pushes her luck too far, she is visited by the fairy godmother she never knew she had. Suddenly, Rima's no longer the one in charge, but instead must obey any order given to her. Will Nagihiko take this opportunity and use it to his advantage? Rima is desperate to break her enchantment, but might need a little help. And she might not be the only one with a curse.**

**A/N: This is the first chapter of Rima Enchanted, which is what you guys wanted me to write next. I won't actually be starting this fic until I finish the Million Dollar Bet, but this is just sort of like a teaser. I might post the first chapter of the Million Dollar Challenge, too, but it will be a while. **

**Also, the rating may go up to T. I can't say at this point.**

**Sorry if they're a little bit OOC at first, that's how things tend to start out in my stories. It will get better. I'm also warning you ahead of time that there will be plot holes, and a few missing details, like language differences that I'm just not going to bother with.**

Chapter One:

In Which Rima Meets Her Fairy Godmother

**Rima's POV:**

I was one year into high school, and I had already come to the simple conclusion that I hated it. There was just _way_ too much homework.

So, what had I done? I dumped my summer homework on my fanboys. What did they ask in return? Absolutely nothing. And somehow, I got away with it.

At least, I thought I did.

I was perfectly fine until the fairy godmother I never knew I had showed up unannounced in my bedroom. For some odd reason, fairy godmothers hate cheating. It's just a weird quirk they have, I guess.

The whole thing started like this:

"Rima-chan," Kusukusu said, "Your phone is ringing." I looked at the chara floating by my side.

"I know," I told her, not answering the call.

"Why don't you answer it?"

"It's baka-Purplehead-Fujisaki," I replied.

It stopped ringing., then started up again a few moments later. Glancing at the caller ID, I growled, but flipped it open and held it to my face. "What do you want, Purplehead?"

"Konichiwa, Rima-chan," said a cheery voice on the other end. I just insulted him and he's being polite. See why I can't stand him? It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't just so _nice_ all the time.

"Answer my question," I barked.

"Did you already do your over-the-summer homework for this year?" he asked.

"What do you think?"

"Of course you didn't," he sighed. "You should get it out of your way already, Rima-chan."

"I did," I said. There was a long silence.

"I think I'm dreaming," Fujisaki muttered.

"Nope," I said happily, "I got my slaves to do it for me."

Another silence.

"How do you expect to ever learn anything? But I should have guessed. Someday, you're going to regret…"

"Shut up, Fujisaki," I snapped. He chuckled.

"You're awful to those poor kids."

"They love me, anyway," I replied.

"And they obey your every whim."

"Exactly. Good-bye, baka-Purplehead." I hung up. "Stupid Fujisaki."

"Rima-chan," Kusukusu said, "Nagihiko's right—you should be nicer to your fans."

"They're _slaves_," I told her, flopping onto my bed. "They _like_ doing my homework." I picked up a volume of my favorite gag Manga that was lying on my bed and opened it up.

"Slaves?" asked an unfamiliar female voice. "Tsk, tsk, I didn't think you were _that_ cold."

I sat up and turned see a lady standing in the middle of my bedroom. She was wearing a dark purple gown that looked like it was out of a fairy tail, and in her hand she held a pointy stick about a foot long. Her thin, lengthily, light-brown hair came past her waist and a circlet of lilies was perched atop her head. But the most extraordinary thing about her was the pair of giant, shimmery wings that stuck out from behind her back.

I gasped.

"Who are you and why are you in my room? Who let you in? Was it Mama?"

"I let myself in," she replied, as if it was obvious.

"How?" I eyed her warily. Some crazy lady cosplaying as a fairy just appears in my room, uninvited. This is not what one would expect in their every-day lives.

"How do you think? I'm a fairy! I go wherever I please. If it makes you feel better, I didn't even use the door."

"And _that_ is supposed to make me _feel better_?" I exclaimed. Kusukusu giggled. The lady—possibly fairy—shrugged.

"I don't know; human's are weird. Anyway, onto business."

"Wait, who are you? Why are you here?" I cut in snappily before she could continue. I was ready to jump up and shove her out the door if necessary. But if it came to that, I don't think I _could_ have: she was a _lot_ taller than me.

"My name is Cassandra Vamist. I'm your fairy godmother. Are you done asking questions now? I can't take my summer vacation until I've finished this job, and I still have one more godchild after you!"

"Why are you here?"

"Look, you need some straightening out, apparently, so I came to give it to you. Don't ask so many questions: I get treated poorly enough for the pitiful amount they pay me for this job."

"What does that mean?" I asked warily, not liking the way this was going. Was she here to punish me?

"It means that being a fairy godmother doesn't pay well!" Cassandra said in exasperation. I shook my head.

"No, the thing about straightening out," I clarified.

"I'm giving you a blessing," she replied. Oh. Maybe she was some fairy of comedy come to give me a reward for keeping the name of comedy clear by releasing my wrath upon anyone who performed a gag incorrectly. But I scrapped that idea: this lady was _not_ funny. She would be an insult to comedy if she was a comedy fairy.

"A blessing?" I narrowed my eyes, now not sure if I wanted it.

"Yes, a positive character trait," confirmed Cassandra.

"O-okay," I wasn't sure what to say.

"It seems you like to give orders. All your fans do anything you tell them to, right?"

"They're slaves," I scoffed. Cassandra nodded.

"Yes: just think what it would be like to be in their shoes! That's exactly what you need. Well, that decides it: I'm giving you the gift of obedience."

"Wha—?" I began, but she cut me off with some sort of rhyming spell-like thing.

_Obedience is your new law,_

_You'll follow orders without flaw_

She waved her wand about and pointed it at me. A few white sparkle things floated out of it and hit me in the forehead.

"Hey!" I said, touching my head where they hit. Suddenly, I realized what she'd done to me. "You just cursed me!"

"It's a blessing. Don't you start complaining! I still have one more job to do before I can go on my vacation, so I don't have time to argue with you. But, before I leave, I have to take something from you." She waved her wand again. To my horror, Kusukusu zoomed into her egg, which snapped shut and sealed itself before floating into Cassandra's hands.

"What are you doing?" I screamed at her. "Kusukusu!"

"You'll get her back soon enough. This is only temporary. You don't need her now, but she'll come back when you do."

"I'm dreaming," I told myself, and truly believed it at first.

"Okay, one more job then I'm off to London for my vacation!" And with that, she disappeared.

**Nagi's POV:**

"Who are you?" I asked the lady that had just appeared in my room.

"I'm Cassandra Vamist, your fairy godmother," she told me. Temari, Rhythm and I just stared at her.

"I thought fairy godmothers were only for girls," I said.

"Well, this is a rare case," Cassandra replied, fiddling with the stick she was holding. "You're lucky."

"Shouldn't I have a fairy godfather or something, then?"

"Of course not! There are very few of those and they're only for extremely harsh cases. You're a pretty good kid, so you're just lucky. Most boys don't even get fairy godcousins, if anything at all! And you look kind of like a girl, anyway." I was slightly offended, but didn't say anything. Temari floated to Cassandra and admired her long purple dress. The fairy ignored her.

"Why are you here? Do I get three wishes are something?" I asked. Cassandra laughed, a sort of snorting sound that didn't fit her graceful demeanor.

"No! Absolutely not! Who do you think I am? Genies grant wishes; I'm your fairy godmother! I came here to give you a blessing to straighten you out a bit."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's face it—you're a liar," said Cassandra. "You lied to your best friend and told her you were Nadeshiko."

"That was in elementary school!" I protested.

"But you still haven't told her the truth. I think you need some truthfulness," Cassandra waved her wand about and began saying a little rhyme.

_Flat-out lies are not for you;_

_Say only what you believe is true_

"What was that?"

"A spell. You can't lie anymore. Now I'll just take your charas and I'll be going."

"Wait!"

"Don't start complaining! Your short blond friend was blessed, too. I have her chara with me."

"_Rima?_"

"Yes, that's her name," Cassandra took the now-sealed eggs of Temari and Rhythm and tucked them away somewhere. "I'm going to London for my summer vacation now. Your charas will come back when you need them again. For now, you'll just have to deal without them." She waved her wand about and disappeared, along with both my charas.

I panicked.

**A/N: So, do you like it? Is there something I should change? Tell me in a review!**


	2. In Which Curses are Discussed

**A/N: Sorry guys, this chapter is somewhat lame… I'm still not over that writer's block, and it's driving me crazy. Maybe it's because I haven't read anything but fanfiction and manga in several months…**

**Anyway, I forgot to do this in the first chapter:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara, or any other licensed thing that I put in this.**

Chapter Two:

In Which the Breaking of Curses is Discussed

**~Rima's POV~**

Cassandra had come and gone in the blink of an eye, and I wasn't sure what to do now. After pinching myself until my arm was bruised, I'd decided that this could not be a dream. At that point, I cried my eyes out. Not literally, of course, but they were real tears: Kusukusu was gone.

If Cassandra had the power to take Kusukusu away, could the "blessing" be real? It was really more of a curse than a blessing, though. Just think of what people could do to me! If the curse worked the way I thought it would, someone could easily force me to kill myself by simply telling me to. And that was how I decided that I would keep this a secret, not matter what. Absolutely _no one_ could find out about this.

"Rima!" Mama called from downstairs, "Come here!" Something inside my head seemed to click, and my feet began to move on their own accord as I ran down the stairs and came to Mama's bidding. So it was real. I bit my lip, trying not to cry.

"Yes?" I asked, my voice sounding somewhat shaky.

She turned from doing the dishes and looked at me. Her face filled with concern, which was rare. She tended to be a pretty carefree person since dad moved out. She even got a new job that didn't take up so much of her time, so she spent a lot more time with me, and she tended to be pretty understanding. But I didn't think she would understand the curse.

"Why were you screaming just a few minutes ago?" she asked me, "Are you okay? You don't look well."

"I… um… saw a spider. It was really big," I lied. My mother looked disgusted.

"Did you get rid of it?"

"Yeah… I killed it with my shoe."

"Okay, as long as you're alright," she said, regaining the smile that had been on her face before she saw me. After feeling my forehead to make sure I wasn't sick (because I looked pretty bad after crying over Kusukusu), she waved her hand as if to dismiss me.

I ran back up the stairs and shut the door to my room behind me. Turning on my computer, I began to search the internet for answers. It proved of little help when I googled "fairy godmothers", "getting rid of curses", and "getting rid of blessings".

My phone rang. Growling, I glanced at the caller ID. Stupid Fujisaki! He called less than half an hour ago. Which reminded me that this whole thing had taken place in less than that time. How was I going to survive?

I don't know what possessed me to answer it. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Rima!" Nagihiko almost yelled. I managed to be slightly annoyed at the lack of an honorific on my name, but didn't bother to bring up the subject.

"What is it now, Purplehead?" I snapped.

"Are you okay?" he sounded really scared.

"Yes, I'm okay! What did you think: a fairy just appeared in my room and cursed me and stole my chara?" I asked sarcastically, prepared for some comment on my creativity. There was a long pause, and I somehow got the feeling he was blushing.

"Yes," he sounded slightly sheepish, but his voice was stone-cold at the same time. My mind started piecing things together: Cassandra had said something about another godchild… oh, no. Not Fujisaki. Wait… yes. Yes, Fujisaki! Muahahaha, I wonder what his curse is?

"Why would you say that? Is that what happened to _you_?" I asked slyly. Well, at least I hoped it was slyly: my voice hadn't completely recovered from crying.

"Rima-chan, that _did_ happen, didn't it?"

"Why would you say such a thing?"

"Cassandra Vamist _told me_ she cursed—er, _blessed_—you."

"And I'm supposing she did the same to you?"

"I don't know. She probably gave us different curses. What is yours?"

"Like I'm gonna tell you," I scoffed.

"Listen, Rima-chan, this is serious. We need to get rid of these curses."

"But _how?_ Do _you_ know how to break a curse?"

"No. But Google might."

"I tried that already."  
"Put "how to break a curse" into the search box," said Nagihiko. I'd already googled that very search query, but my fingers moved involuntarily as they typed in the words he'd said. This was the second experience like that I've had now, and it was quite unnerving.

"I already tried that. Nothing useful comes up," I explained. "You're not helping. I'm going to search for something by myself."

"No, don't hang up, Rima," he said. I reached for the _end_ button, but I couldn't push it. I growled. Stupid Fujisaki!

"Fine," I said. "But I already tried Google. We'll just have to find Cassandra and get her to take it back!" I was quite pleased with myself for that idea.

"But she said she was going to London," Nagihiko pointed out.

"So?"

"So how do you expect to get there?" he took on a sarcastic tone. "_Oh, hey Mom, can you buy me a plane ticket to London so I can find my fairy godmother who put a curse on me so I can get her to take it back?_ That'll go real well."

I thought about it, and realized he was right. But there was no way I was going to say that. "Stupid Fujisaki, she's probably not even to the airport yet."

"Baka!" he yelled at me, obviously fed up. I think this was the first time I'd ever heard him yell at me. "She's a _fairy_. She can go wherever she wants just by waving her wand! Didn't she just _appear_ in your room?"

"Well… yeah," I was now quite upset with myself, realizing that I hadn't really thought that one through. Nagihiko sighed in exasperation.

"Okay, how about we meet at the park and see what we can come up with?"

"…Fine," I agreed on my own. Thankfully, he hadn't ordered me to do anything.

"I'll meet you there in thirty minutes. Is that okay?"

"Sure," I sighed in defeat.

"Bye, Rima-chan."

"Bye," I replied. Thankfully, he hung up, so I didn't have to. Soon, it began to ring again. Amu: thank goodness.

"Moshi-moshi?"

"Rima-chan!" Amu said excitedly, "Come over to my house!" Uh-oh.

"I can't," I told her, although I was already involuntarily walking out of my room.

"Why not?"

I bit my lip. It was too dangerous to go over there just yet. Even if I wasn't able to get Cassandra to take back the curse, I hadn't yet found any ways to get around it. There had to be some sort of hole in the spell: I had yet to find out what happened when someone said "please" along with their command. Then would it still be considered a direct order? Also, I hadn't yet tried to resist that much. How long could I put something off? How much could I slack on? How direct did someone's order have to be?

"Well, I'm sort of busy," I told Amu.

"What the heck could you be busy with? I know you got your fanboys to do your homework for you, and you don't have anything planned for this summer. I'm bored. Just come over, okay?"

**~Nagi's POV~**

I'm sitting on a bench in the park, and it's been about forty-five minutes since I told Rima to meet me in a half-hour. She was fifteen minutes late. The conversation we'd had on the phone had been… interesting. And for once, she hadn't cut it short and hung up. I felt somewhat guilty for yelling at her, but I wasn't really bothering myself about at the moment.

I flipped through the pages I had printed off the internet, thinking about the curses. Was it coincidental that the girl I'd had a crush on since elementary school and I had both fallen under curses? And that we had the same fairy godmother? What was Rima's curse? Was it better than mine? Worse? She had refused to tell me.

Of course, I hadn't told her my curse, either, but knowing Rima, she would probably use it against me. Amu still didn't know about the whole "Nadeshiko" thing, and I thought I would probably avoid her for a while. It's either that or telling the truth, which I really don't want to do—yet. I plan to tell her someday… just, not for a while… a _long_ while.

"Hi, Purplehead," said Rima. I looked up to find her standing in front of me, panting slightly like she'd been running.

"You're twenty minutes late," I told her. She growled.

"I couldn't help it."

"Where were you? Twenty minutes is a long time to wait here," I said. Rima crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry," she snapped, "I was at Amu's house."

"What?" I asked, slightly surprised. "I told you to meet me here in half an hour, so you go to Amu's house?"

"…" she turned her head away. "Amu told me to come over."

"Since when do you do something just because she says to? You could have just told her you couldn't come."

"When do you _think_? Even if I had, it wouldn't make any difference!" Rima spat. Her eyes widened, and she slapped a hand over her mouth as if to keep from saying anything else. I started to put things together.

"Your curse…" I mused. "Is it obedience?"

"No!" she replied, a little bit too hastily. I grinned.

"Sit," I commanded. Rima sat on the ground in front of me, glaring. "Stand." She stood. "Not obedience?"

"N-no!"

"Then why are you doing what I tell you?"

"Because… I'm being… cooperative," she stated.

"Rima-chan, you're rarely cooperative," I reminded her. I was going to say "never", rather than "rarely", but that would be an exaggeration, and I knew it wasn't true. Her glare deepened, and it scared me, somewhat. "Tell me what your curse is." I felt somewhat rude, ordering her around like this.

"Obedience," Rima blurted, then she bit her lip and looked like she was holding back tears.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan," I apologized.

"What is your curse?" she asked quietly. I didn't say anything. At least this way, I wasn't lying. Suddenly, it struck me just how awful the situation Rima was in really was. Someone could order her to do something—anything—and she would have to do it. She was in great danger. My curse not only was easier to deal with, it had several loopholes that I'd already discovered. I could, of course, say nothing: then I wouldn't be lying. I could tell half-truths, as long as I didn't lie. There were ways to get around it.

I sighed. "My curse is truthfulness," I told her. It wasn't fair for me to know hers when she didn't know mine. I didn't tell her about the loopholes, though.

An evil grin grew on Rima's face. "You really enjoyed cross-dressing, didn't you?"

"No," I stated. Rima looked annoyed.

"So what are we going to do about the curses?" she changed the subject.

"This is what I found on the internet," I said, handing her the small stack of paper's I'd printed. "I don't think they're going to be of much help."

"Most of this is about fairy godmothers," stated Rima. I nodded. "But it doesn't say anything about them _cursing_ you!" After reading through the thing's I'd brought, Rima decided that they were useless, and sat next to me on the bench, hugging her knees to her.

"In fairy tales, there's always some way to break the curse," I said. "Probably the surest way is to get the person who put it on you to take it back. But seeing how everything with Cassandra Vamist is working out, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Isn't there usually a cure that's told to the person when they get the curse?" Rima asked. I thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"But Vamist-san called it a 'blessing', so I don't think that rule applies."

"There has to be _some_ way to get rid of it!" Rima cried, curling into a perfect ball-shape.

"I have an idea," I stated, "But I don't think you're going to like it."

**A/N: Tell me what you think in a review! **

** I welcome any ideas you have. Arigato!**


	3. In Which Plans are Made

**A/N: Arigato, minna-san, for the reviews! They make me want to keep writing. Also, I want to apologize for all the POV switches. I'm used to writing in third person—although I enjoy writing in first person more—and this makes it easier to convey what I'm trying to get across. **

** Also, I wanted to let you guys know, this is my first story with OC's that are used in more than one chapter. I hope you don't mind.**

Chapter Three:

In Which Plans are Made

**~Mystery POV~**

"Sit still!" I hissed. "You're gonna let 'em know we're here."

"But I can't see!" Raye argued. "There's a branch in my face!"

"Just shut up! I can see, and that's all that matters," I replied.

"I'm going to—" she began, but I grabbed her tail and yanked on it. "Ouch!" Raye whimpered and began sulking over her tail. I rolled my eyes and peered between the leaves, watching the humans.

The one with purple hair had been sitting there for a long time before the short one with curly, blond hair walked up to it. They spoke for a moment, and the short one sat on the ground, stood again, and sat on the bench next to the other.

Although it was hard to tell—human's all look alike—I was pretty sure the tall one with dark hair was a male, and the other was a female.

"Cassy said their names are Ri-ma, and Na-gi-" Raye struggled pronouncing the second name. "Nag-i-hi… Na-gi-hi-ko."

"What did I tell you about whispering?"

"Oh, right," she whispered, "Their names are Rima and Nagihiko."

"Okay, whatever. Now be quiet so I can hear what they're saying," I told her. She nodded and sat back on her haunches, quietly sniffing the air and twitching her ears to pick up noises.

I watched the humans and listened to their conversation, but frankly, they were boring. My eyelids began to droop shut, and I soon fell asleep under the protective shelter of the bush Raye and I were hiding in.

Eventually, I woke to Raye shaking me. "Ardi! Ardi, wake up! Let's go!"

My eyes opened, and the first thing I noticed was that the afternoon sunlight that had been streaming through the leaves on the bush had turned to a deep golden light.

"How long have we been here?" I asked.

"Hours," she replied. "But I got everything the humans were saying." I rose and crawled out of the bush, Raye following me.

"Okay, if you have everything, I guess we can go," I stated. Raye nodded and we both sat back on our haunches and clutched each other's paws. There was a bright flash, and suddenly, we were home.

**~Nagi's POV~**

"No way!" Rima exclaimed, jumping from her seat. "Absolutely not!"

"I didn't think you would like it," I muttered inaudibly.

"There is no way I would ever kiss you! Not even if Hell froze over! Never!"

I felt somewhat like laughing, and at the same time I was hurt. However, I thought that the idea was pretty good, myself, and I certainly wouldn't mind giving it a try, even if it didn't work. But Rima had made it clear that wasn't going to happen.

"I wouldn't kiss you if pigs flew!" said Rima.

"Not even if it would remove the curse?"

"…" Rima was silent, her face flaming red, and she turned away from me. "But it might not work."

"There is always that possibility," I said, "But it _is_ the traditional way to break a curse, in most fairy tales."

"_Life_ isn't a fairytale, Nagihiko," she spat. I sighed. That was one thing she didn't have to point out to me: if life _was_ a fairy tale, Rima would have already fallen madly in love with me and we would live happily ever after, etcetera.

"Life may not be a fairytale," I said, "But if fairies exist, then some of the basic principles might be the same."

"So?"

"So I'm saying," I muttered quietly, my face becoming redder and redder by the moment, "That if we kiss, the curses might break."

"No way!" Rima repeated. "I am not going to give away my first kiss just like that!"

"Then what do you propose we do?" I said, standing and crossing my arms.

"I think we should go to London and find Cassandra Vamist," Rima stated, her blush fading.

"Listen, Rima, we can use that as a last resort. First off, how are we going to convince our parents to let us go? And even if they did, London is _huge_, and we have no idea where to find her there. And on top of it all, it's dangerous. Then there are the curses: just think what would happen if you happened to overhear someone telling someone else to do something. And there's no way I'm traveling all the way to London to find Cassandra Vamist—which is very unlikely—and just have her tell us she won't take it off. Or to learn that it was really as simple as a kiss in the first place," my voice became louder and louder, until I was nearly shouting, and by the end of my speech, I was out of breath.

A long silence followed, and Rima bit her lip, looking as if she was trying to keep from crying. After taking a few long, shaky breaths, she looked up at me and spoke. "Okay."

"Wha—" I breathed, slightly surprised.

"But here's the deal," Rima's eyes had determination in them, "If it doesn't work, we're going to London to find Cassandra Vamist. No _ifs_ or _buts_ about it."

"Deal."

**~Rima's POV~**

All sorts of emotions were running through me—mostly anger, though. I also was trying not to cry. This is, undoubtedly, the worst day of my life. First the curse, then Kusukusu, and of course Fujisaki has to make it worse. And now, after everything that's happened, I'm going to lose my first kiss.

All my life, I'd always dreamed of it of being in a romantic setting, with some guy I was madly in love with. As of now, I hadn't even had a big crush in a long time. And my first kiss has to be that stupid, purple-headed, cross-dressing freak.

"Are you ready?" Nagihiko asked, cupping my chin. I nodded slightly. "I'm really sorry, Rima-chan."

"It's okay," I lied, but I did feel better knowing that he was sorry. After all, he couldn't lie.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for something very unpleasant, but it didn't come. Nagihiko simply tilted my upward, and gently pressed his lips to mine. In fact, I almost gasped at how much I really _did_ like it. He pulled away, almost reluctantly, and it was all over in a matter of seconds. Done. My first kiss: gone, just like that.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Nagihiko blushing furiously. He looked too flustered to say anything, but calmed down after a few moments. "Rima, sit."

My body moved on its own accord, and I involuntarily sat on the bench.

"The sky is gre… blue," he struggled over it for a moment, trying to speak the words '_the sky is green_', but couldn't.

I hugged my knees to me and formed a ball-shape as tears spilled from my eyes for the second time that day. A gentle hand landed on my shoulder, and Nagihiko sat next to me. "Vent, Rima," he said. I wasn't sure what he meant. "Just spill it all out. It helps to tell people things." I don't think he realized that he gave me a command.

"This is the worst day I've ever had—curses, Kusukusu being kidnapped, and now I just lost my first kiss," I sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan. I'm really, really sorry," Nagihiko said sincerely. I felt his arms wrap around me as he pulled me into a sort of side-hug. I didn't resist, but simply kept on crying, and crying.

When I stopped, probably at least thirty minutes later, I looked up to see that Nagihiko also had a few tears running down his cheeks. That, I think, was the first time that I realized he, too, had emotions. Of course, it was something I'd always known. But I wasn't truly conscious of it until then. Before he'd just been the cross-dressing jerk that I hated, and, although he was still my enemy, I was now aware that he could hurt just like anyone else.

Maybe it was this that influenced me, or maybe it was something else, but whatever the case, when Nagihiko wiped the tears from my face, I didn't stop him.

"Okay, Rima, we'll go to London," he sighed in defeat. "I'll get plane tickets."

"What about Mama? She won't let me go," I said. He chuckled.

"I know how to deal with her. I'll call you tonight with the schedule," he stood and helped me up, then walked me home.

I ran up the stairs to avoid my mother asking where I'd been, and immediately grabbed a large suitcase out of my closet, plus a backpack. I packed as many of my clothes that would fit in there, plus all my other necessities. In my backpack I placed an extra set of clothing (in case my luggage got lost), most of my savings, and a few gag mangas, and a sweater. I also put my passport, a copy of my passport, and other such things for going through customs.

By the time I had everything packed, my phone began to ring.

"Moshi-moshi?"

"Moshi-moshi, Rima-chan, this is Nagihiko."

"Purplehead," I said. He ignored me.

"I have the plane tickets. We're leaving tomorrow around noon. I'll come pick you up at your house at nine."

"_What_? _Nine_? You said the plane leaves at noon!"

"You should always be at the airport at least three hours early," he stated.

"Okay," I growled, "Fine. But how are you going to deal with Mama?"

"That's easy," Nagihiko stated. "You'll see tomorrow."

Nagihiko was true to his word. After a terrible sleep, I showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and dragged my luggage downstairs, where I set it by the door. Mama gave me a questioning look, but seemed too busy with the magazine she was reading to ask questions. I sat next to her and twiddled my thumbs, glancing at the clock.

Finally, the doorbell rang, and I walked to the door and stood on my tiptoes to see out the peephole. I didn't need to—I already knew it was Fujisaki—but, it was a habit I'd formed a long time ago to see if I would ever grow tall enough to see through it. In fact, I still couldn't unless I stood on something about the size of a phonebook.

When I opened the door, Nagihiko was not there. Instead, there was an extremely flat-chested girl with a dark purple ponytail.

Nadeshiko.

"Hi, Rima-chan," Nadeshiko winked at me. I was amazed at how much Nagihiko still managed to look—and sound—like a girl. In his normal voice, Nagihiko whispered his plan in my ear, because it involved lying, I would have to do the talking. Mama looked over at us and stood, walking to the door with a large smile on her face.

"Hello, why don't you come in?" she asked. Nadeshiko did so, bowing slightly to Mama.

"I'm Nadeshiko, Rima's friend," she said.

"Nade-chan and I are gonna have a two-week sleepover at her house."

"Sounds like fun," Mama raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. Her eyes darted toward the luggage at the door. "When are you leaving?"

"Now," I said, picking up my backpack.

"Well, have fun," Mama said, hugging me. "I'll see you in two weeks, then."

"Arigato, Mrs. Mashiro," Nadeshiko said, taking my larger bad. I waved to Mama as we walked out the door.

As the door swung closed, it closed many things behind it: my home, Mama, and my normal life. I was now living a completely new life: starting at the gate of my house.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. If you don't like OC's, it's okay: they won't be showing up that much. And I can absolutely guarantee that they won't be mary-sues. They're simply there to help the story along.**

** Anyway, tell me what you think in a review! Arigato!**


	4. In Which They Arrive at Heathrow

**So we're just going to say that both Rima and Nagi speak fluent English, which really isn't that unlikely since they're in high school and have probably been studying it since elementary school.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own London, or Heathrow, or Ehime, or Matsumaya (I had to do some research to find the Japanese names.)**

Chapter Four:

In Which They Arrive at Heathrow

**~Rima's POV~**

My shoulder was killing me from the weight of this backpack, and I was also getting tired of rolling my suitcase around. So when Nagihiko, still dressed as Nadeshiko, handed me his suitcase, I did not appreciate it.

"Wait here," he told me, in his Nadeshiko voice, glancing around as if to make sure it was safe.

"Why?"

"I need to go change."

"Why? You're fine as Nadeshiko. In fact, I think I like you better as Nadeshiko," I said. A tick-mark appeared on his head.

"Because," he stated in a patient (still Nadeshiko) voice, "My passport is for _Nagihiko_ not Nadeshiko."

"Fine," I said, grinning at the thought of the trouble it could cause. So I stood there, waiting, with our luggage, as Nagihiko walked into the girl's bathroom. When he came back out, he was no longer dressed as a girl, but still had his hair up.

"Okay, let's go," he said in his normal voice, taking his luggage from me.

"Why is your hair still up?"

"How do you think it would look if a guy walked out of the girl's bathroom?" he said, pulling the hair-tie out and letting his long, purple hair hang loose once again.

"Good point," I stated, as we walked toward the place where we give the people our suitcases.

After that, we joined the long line going through security. I had to take off my shoes and place them in a bin, along with my carry-on luggage. Nagihiko told me I had better put my headband in there, too, so I added it to the pile.

When all the security checks were over with, I felt somewhat relieved. "Now what?"

Nagihiko glanced at his watch. "We've got about an hour before we leave. Maybe we should get some lunch."

**~Narrator's POV~**

"Cassy!" called a small, somewhat squeaky voice that was pleasantly familiar to Cassandra. She turned to see a creature that was about a third of her height scampering toward her on all fours.

It somewhat resembled a human, but was more doglike in shape. Its face was mostly human, besides the snout-like, dogish nose, and perky fox-like ears atop its head. There was a thin coat of fur covering its whole body.

Its bushy red tail was tipped with white, and its paws were also white, although its shoulder-length hair was as red as its tail. Its snout was also tipped with white, while its small button nose was black and wet.

It wore a dirty t-shirt that was considerably big on it, and hung about it so loosely that it showed a bit of cleavage, proving that despite its primitive appearance, it was a female. She wore a pair of filthy cargo pants with a hole that allowed her tail to stick out.

Some people would call this creature disgusting. Others might call her cute. Some might even go as far as to call her pretty, but those were only of her own kind. Cassandra wouldn't call her any of these. Maybe a _little bit_ cute, but the fairy godmother had very little of an opinion of the creature's appearance. What she was interested in was her intelligence and capability.

"Hello, Raye," Cassandra greeted. "I assume you've gathered information from the humans."

"Yes!" she said, a smile forming on her lips, showing her teeth that featured two fang-like k-nines that were blaringly obvious.

"And what about your brother? I assume he wants his share of the payment."

"Of course he does. But I don't think he has that much information," Raye stated.

"He'd better come, anyway," said Cassandra.

"Fine," Raye said, and looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Ardi! Get over here!"

A creature very similar to Raye came scampering around the corner on all fours. This one also had shaggy red hair, although it was a shade lighter, and a bit shorter. It was obviously a male, when seen in contrast to its sister. Not only was he slightly larger, but his torso was broader, and he had a thicker build than the spindly-armed Raye. He, too, wore a filthy t-shirt and cargo pants.

"Well, hello, Ardi," said Cassandra. "Your sister tells me you were slacking."

"Hey!" protested the odd creature, "It's not my fault humans are boring! They lulled me to sleep."

"I, however, listened to their conversation," said Raye.

"And what did you learn?" asked the fairy.

"They're going to London to find you," she stated. Cassandra laughed.

"Ha! Good luck, kids. But if they manage to find me, I suppose I'll cooperate and answer their questions."

"I think they want their curses broken," Ardi pointed out.

"What?" Cassandra looked stunned, "Who do they think they are? That's stupid! I wouldn't have put curses on them in the first place if I'd wanted to take them off."

"Good point," said Raye, "But they're humans. They don't think the way fairies and goblins do."

"Goblins and fairies to _not_ think alike," Cassandra protested.

"How do you know?" Ardi asked. "You're not a goblin."

"And _you're_ not a fairy," she scoffed. "Well, I suppose you earned your payment."

Two large jars appeared out of nowhere, and Cassandra tossed one to each of the creatures. Raye tore off the lid and dipped her paw inside. She happily began licking the creamy, light-brown substance off the end.

"I have another job for you," Cassandra said, "And this time, I'll pay you each a whole gallon of peanut-butter."

"Deal!" Ardi exclaimed, before he even heard what the task would be.

**~Rima's POV~**

I sighed as I glanced yet again at my boarding pass.

_Mashiro/Rima …. Boarding Pass_

_ XX XXX June 24_

_ From: Ehime/Matsumaya_

_ To: London/Heathrow_

_ Boards at: 12:05 PM_

_ Seat 31H …. Seating: 4_

London sounded so huge and important. There were so many stories that took place there, both real and fairy tales. In truth, I was somewhat excited. But the feeling was dampened by the fact that I had to be traveling with Fujisaki.

_Why_ did Cassandra have to curse _him_? Why couldn't it have been Amu-chan? I shook that thought: I didn't want to wish any of this on Amu. She was my best friend. So in that respect, I was glad it was Fujisaki. But…

I glanced at him. He was sitting next to me in the waiting area, reading a thick book. It looked boring, but he seemed interested in it.

"How much longer until we get on the plane?" I asked. Nagihiko looked up from his book.

"They should be loading us on any minute now," he replied. True to his word, a voice emanated from a speaker system, calling different groups of people onto the plane. Soon enough, Nagihiko said "That's us," and picked up his carry-on luggage as he walked toward the tunnel-like thing that led into the plane. I followed him.

A lady scanned our tickets and let us through, and then we had to wait in a long line. The whole process was very boring, and slightly confusing. If it weren't for Nagihiko, I would have been lost a long time ago.

Finally, we got to our seats. Nagihiko was by the window, and I was in the middle seat. There was an old lady with overpowering perfume in the aisle seat. She smiled kindly at us, but I still didn't want to breathe in all those chemical smells. I tried not to gag as I sat down and pushed my carry-on under my seat.

A lady showed everyone what to do in case of an emergency—how to inflate the life-vest, etcetera. When she was done, it took a while for the plane to finally start. I was bored out of my mind until the ground began to tilt, and we were pushed backwards in our seats.

Pressure began to build in my ears. At first, it was just annoying, and it muffled the sound of everything around me. But it soon became painful and I found myself opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water. Well, maybe not quite like _that_. Whatever the case, it wasn't working, and the pain was getting worse. I thought that if it kept doing this much longer, my ears would explode.

"Rima-chan," Nagihiko said, putting a hand on my arm. I would have slapped it away, but I was too occupied with the pressure in my ears. "Rima-chan, hold your nose and blow through it gently."

"How will that help?" I snapped.

"Just do it," he said. I did as he told me, and the pain got even worse, and then suddenly, it seemed to pop, and it was gone. I sighed in relief and sank into my seat.

Boredom eventually lulled me to sleep.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

I couldn't believe how cute Rima-chan was, sleeping so peacefully with her head tilted to the side. She would probably have a very stiff neck when she woke up, but there was really nothing I could do about it.

The plane bumped slightly from some turbulence, and Rima's head dropped onto my shoulder. I felt my face grow warm as a blush crept onto it, and I stared at my hands when it didn't fade.

The elderly lady on the other side of Rima smiled at me. "That's one cute girlfriend you have," she said, her voice somewhat raspy. My blush only deepened.

"She… she's not… my girlfriend," I muttered, smiling sadly.

"Yet, you wish she was?" the lady guessed. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my blush down, but it wasn't working.

"Well…" I managed. "Yeah, I do."

"I think you two would make a very cute couple."

"R-really?"

"Yes," the lady nodded. "Absolutely."

Neither of us spoke for several minutes, and my blush faded to nearly my normal skin color.

"Have you been to London before?" she asked, eventually. I nodded.

"Yes, but only passing through. Rima-chan hasn't, though."

"That's Rima?" she pointed Rima, who was still asleep on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I replied. "Have you been to London before?"

"Yes, my grandchildren live there," said the lady. "I'm going to visit them. Why are you going? And with such a lovely young lady?"

"Um…" I said, trying to find a way to slip around this one. I couldn't think of anything that wasn't a lie. "Well, to tell the truth, you probably wouldn't believe me."

"You'd be surprised by what I'd believe," the lady said, smiling. Her old, wise-looking eyes had something magical about them.

"Do you believe in magic?" I asked, eyeing her cautiously. Her smile broadened.

"Of course," she said.

"Well, we're going to London because we're trying to break a curse," I said, not wanting to give any more information than that. Conveniently, Rima woke at that moment. Unfortunately, when she found her head resting on my shoulder, she was _not_ happy. And, of course, she took it out on me.

A woman pushing a cart came down our aisle, and stopped at each row of seats, handing them different types of drinks. When she got to our row, I had water, and Rima had sprite. Each time the cart of drinks and snacks came to us, Rima had another soda of some sort. So eventually, she needed to use the lavatory.

There must have been a line or something, because she didn't come back for a while. I conversed politely with the old lady who believed in magic. She was nice and all, but it was kind of creepy how she was able to guess so much about Rima and I. Somehow, she was able to guess that Rima hated me for no good reason, and that I'd had a crush on her since elementary school.

"Here," said the lady, handing me a small brown bag. "Look inside." I tugged at the string holding it closed until it came loose then pulled out a clear, glass bottle of red liquid.

"What is it?"

"A love potion," she winked, "I think you might be able to use it."

"How'd you get it past security?"

"It doesn't show up on their x-ray machine thingy," she explained. "And they won't see it if you don't want them to."

"Okay…" I wasn't sure what to say. There was absolutely _no way_ I would ever use this on Rima. For all I know, it could be poison.

"To use it, simply pour it over the person's head. Actually, any contact to skin will activate it, and drinking it works, too. The amount you use will decide how long the effect will last. Drinking it is more powerful, so if someone drinks the whole bottle, the spell might last several days."

"Umm… what do you want me to do with it?" I asked, holding the bottle cautiously.

"Silly boy! Give it to that girl you like so much."

"Why would I do that?"

"Gosh, you're not as smart as I thought you were. Don't you want her to like you back?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Just give it to her. I'm sure you won't regret it," said the lady. There was something about her that made me think I could trust her.

"Uh… thanks," I put the bottle in my backpack, having absolutely _no_ intentions of giving it to Rima.

Rima finally came back from the bathroom and sat between us. The rest of the flight was occupied by very little conversation, and Rima and I both watched movies on the tiny screens in front of each of us.

**~Rima's POV~**

Eventually, I fell asleep again. This time, thankfully, I didn't fall onto Nagihiko's shoulder. When the plane began to land, I got a sick feeling in my stomach that didn't go away until it had landed. Then we had to wait while everyone got off, and since we were quite a ways toward the back, that took a long time.

I hopped up and down in my seat, while Nagihiko just sat there. Finally, there was an opening in the flow of people and we were able to get out. I followed Nagihiko through many hallways, and we eventually got through customs and picked up our luggage.

Heathrow Airport was _huge_. And I didn't even see very much of it.

Nagihiko stopped at a machine in the wall and exchanged some money so that we had British pounds instead of yen. Then we got a taxi to take us to a nearby hotel. Apparently, reservations hadn't been made ahead of time.

"We only have one non-smoking room left," the man behind the counter explained. After some consideration and a small argument, we took the room.

It wasn't very big, and there was one large window on the far wall. There was, of course, a bathroom. A television sat on a dresser on one wall, right next to the door to the closet. I only saw one problem with the room.

"There's only one bed," I stated.

Silence.

Nagihiko sighed. "I'll sleep on the floor," he said.

I set my luggage on the floor and sat on the bed. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was just after two in the afternoon here. I was about to comment on this, when I noticed something peculiar next to the clock.

"Hey, Purplehead, what's this?"

**A/N: I'm posting the link to the picture of Raye on my profile. It's just a sketch I did in like 2 minutes, so the proportions aren't right, and it's not very good. But at least you'll get the idea.**

** Anyway, I'm leaving on Wednesday, so don't expect updates after that for at least a week and a half. But I'll be writing in that time, so I'll probably have an update ready when I come back.**

** Review, onegai!**

** Arigato**


	5. In Which Nagi Sings

**Although I have been to London (on a People to People trip), it was over a year ago and I was asleep for much of the time in the coach, including during parts of the tour. So some of this stuff may not be accurate.**

** Also, some of the places I mention without naming them are actual places, and some of them aren't. The outdoor shopping area does exist, but I'm not sure about the café.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the places I mention in here. Also, I don't own the Click Five or their song 'Just the Girl'. I know that it's been used several times before in other fics, but I'm still going to use it.**

Chapter Five:

In Which Nagihiko Sings

**~Rima's POV~**

"That, Rima-chan, is a pillow chocolate," said Nagihiko as I held up the object I'd found.

"Why is it here? And how do you make chocolate out of pillows?"

"No, Rima-chan, it's a chocolate that the hotel leaves in people's rooms for them to eat," he explained. My mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"There're two of them," I said, handing one to him. I unwrapped mine and popped it in my mouth. Nagihiko just stood there, staring at the candy in his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," he smiled, and also ate his.

"Hey, look at that," I said, pointing to something floating in the air that hadn't been there before. It was golden and shiny, like a firefly, only a bit bigger. When I looked closer, I saw that it was a tiny person with wings. Like a fairy, although I knew from meeting Cassandra that fairies were _much_ bigger than that.

Nagihiko looked around the room, but didn't see the tiny creature at first. After a few moments, his eyes widened in surprise and he noticed it. "There are lots of them," he turned around, pointing to several more glowing dots.

"They weren't here before," I mused. "Do you think it was the chocolate?"

He shook his head. "The window must be open. They probably just flew in." Walking to the window, Nagihiko found that it was not only closed, but locked. "This doesn't make sense. How can chocolate suddenly enable us to see littlie pixie-like things floating about the room?"

"Maybe it was enchanted chocolate," I said, dropping onto the bed. I was completely ready to go to sleep.

"Oh, no you don't!" Stupid Fujisaki grabbed my arm and pulled me back up. "You can't go to sleep. It's only after two, and we have to get on this schedule right away."

"But I can just—"

"No, you can't. We're going to pretend we're completely adapted to this time. You can sleep when it gets dark."

"But it's summer. It gets dark really late."

"Okay, you can go to sleep after six o'clock," he said, pulling me out the door and locking it behind us. I dragged my feet the whole way down the stairs and into the lobby. Nagihiko sighed. "Are you going to make me carry you?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said. He rolled his eyes.

"How about this: we'll go get something to eat for lunch and have some coffee."

I perked at the mention of food. "Okay!"

The two of us walked down the street, looking for restaurants. Frankly, I didn't care what we ate, I was so hungry. I assumed that Nagihiko was as hungry as I was, having not had anything to eat except what they fed us on the plane.

The whole time, I noticed tiny, shining dots like the ones in the hotel. They seemed to be all over the place.

"How does this place look?" Nagihiko asked, stopping in front of the door to a café. I shrugged.

"I don't care. I just want to eat."

As we walked in, a bell chimed. There was a high counter on one end of the store, and a glass display counter that had ice cream inside it. There were also some pastries in another case on top of the counter that I had to stand on my tip-toes to see. In one corner, there was a small stage on which people were setting up some sort of system.

Nagihiko and I sat at a table, and a waitress came and took our orders. I ordered coffee, while Nagihiko had tea. We sipped our drinks in silence while waiting for our food.

**~Nagi's POV~**

When the waitress came to our table with our food, I asked her what they were setting up on the stage for.

"Karaoke," she promptly replied. "Would you like me to bring you a list of song options?"

Rima, who had obviously been paying attention, piped up, "Yes, please." The waitress disappeared and came back a minute later with a binder, which she set in front of Rima.

"What are you going to sing?" I asked. Rima shook her head.

"You're mistaken," she said, "You're the one that will be singing."

"W-why?' I gulped. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," she said, sliding the binder to me. I began looking through the lists of songs until I spotted one that I knew.

"Did you find anything?" asked the waitress, appearing by the table.

"Yes," replied Rima. "Tell her what you want to sing, Purplehead."

"I'm not going to sing for you if you keep calling me that."

"Fine. Fujisaki, tell her what you want to sing," Rima crossed her arms. I pointed to the song on the page and the waitress nodded.

"I'll put your name in line," she said. "What's your name?"

"Fujisaki Nagihiko," I answered.

"Okay, you're third in line," said the waitress, "They'll call you up." She walked away.

"What did you pick?" Rima asked.

"You'll see," I smirked.

After two people got on the stage and sang—one a Beatles song and the other unfamiliar to me—the dude on the stage called my name. I was almost wishing Rhythm was here to chara-change with me, to make this easier. Well, if I was lucky, Rima would take a hint and not be as cruel to me anymore. _That_ would be a miracle, though.

The music began to play, and I took a deep breath before I started to sing.

_She's cold and she's cruel _

_But she knows what she's doing_

_She pushed me in the pool _

_At our last school reunion_

_She laughs at my dreams,_

_But I dream about her laughter_

_Strange as it seems, _

_She's the one I'm after_

I made a point of staring straight at Rima. She was covering her mouth, trying to keep from laughing. I didn't think she was really getting it, which could be a good thing.

'_Cause she's bittersweet_

_She knocks me off my feet_

_And I can't help myself_

_I don't want anyone else_

_She's a mystery_

_She's too much for me_

_But I keep coming back for more_

_She's just the girl I'm looking for_

Bittersweet: that described Rima. She was so mean to me, and always had been. But I took every opportunity I could to be around her. And sometimes she would surprise me with the sweet side: the side I knew was there but rarely saw. Like when she fell asleep on my shoulder in the airplane…

_She can't keep a secret for more than an hour_

_She runs on one-hundred proof attitude power_

_And the more she ignores me the more I adore her_

_What can I do? I'd do anything for her!_

Well, that was the one line of this song that didn't fit Rima: she definitely could keep a secret. In fact, she'd been keeping my secret for years, now. But the rest fit her. One-hundred proof attitude power? That described her perfectly. And she was so cute when she turned her head away from me, clearly stating that she was not speaking to me. For these and other reasons, I _would_ do practically anything for her. The fact that I was on this stage singing was proof of it.

'_Cause she's bittersweet_

_She knocks me off my feet_

_And I can't help myself_

_I don't want anyone else_

_She's a mystery_

_She's too much for me_

_But I keep coming back for more_

_She's just the girl I'm looking for_

_And when she sees it's me_

_On her caller ID_

_She won't pick up the phone_

_She'd rather be alone_

_But I can't give up just yet_

'_Cause every word she's ever said_

_Is still ringing in my head_

_Still ringing in my head_

That had happened so many times when I'd tried to call her. Rima rarely answered the phone if she knew I was the one calling. I always had to try several times if I really wanted to talk to her.

And I won't give up: not for a _long_ time. Not until Rima finally at least stops hating me.

_She's cold and she's cruel _

_But she knows what she's doing_

_Knows just what to say_

_So my whole day is ruined_

'_Cause she's bittersweet_

_She knocks me off my feet_

_And I can't help myself_

_I don't want anyone else_

_She's a mystery_

_She's too much for me_

_But I keep coming back for more_

_She's just the girl I'm looking for_

_Cause she's bittersweet  
She knocks me off of my feet  
And I can't help myself  
I don't want anyone else  
She's a mystery  
She's too much for me  
But I keep coming back for more  
Oh, I keep coming back for more  
She's just the girl I'm looking for  
Just the girl I'm looking for_

I finished the song and, as the other people in the café cheered, I hurried back to the table where Rima was sitting. Her eyes were glowing, and a smile was playing across her lips.

"That was hilarious!" she said. I didn't mind: I was just glad to have made her smile. Sitting down, I placed my head in my hands in a sulking manner. "Hey, you did a good job."

I looked up, my face brightening. Had Rima just complimented me? "Thanks."

"I'm not surprised your voice can go that high," she said. I frowned. There was a silence. "Why'd you choose that song?"

I was about to say that it was the first thing on the list that I knew, but that would be lying, and I couldn't do that. "Um… I guess I can relate to it," I said, nearly cringing. Rima raised an eyebrow.

"Really? How?"

"Well… it doesn't really fit perfectly, I guess," I weaseled my way out of her question. And I was telling the truth: there was one line in that song that _didn't_ fit—the line about keeping a secret for more than an hour.

What had I been thinking? That Rima would suddenly not hate me anymore after I sang for her? It was more likely that she would hate me all the more for it—if she knew I was talking about her. Silently, I chastised myself for my foolishness.

"So, is there anything you really want to see?" I asked when we'd finished our food. "I mean, we've got the rest of the day, since we're going to start searching for Cassandra tomorrow."

"Well…" Rima mused, "I don't know. What is there to see?"

"Lots of things!" I exclaimed. "Like the Houses of Parliament, and the Tower Bridge, and Big Ben, and St. Paul's Cathedral, and Trafalgar Square, and the London Eye, and the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace, and Hampton Court Palace. We could even go to Runnymede, if you wanted."

"What's Runnymede?" she asked. This is what comes of her never doing any homework.

"The place where the Magna Charta was signed."

"The Magna… Charta?"

"Yes, it was…" I began, then decided I'd better not start explaining things, because it would only lead to more questions, and we'd never get anywhere. "Oh, never mind. You probably aren't interested in all those historical places, anyway."

Rima shook her head, confirming my statement.

"Then we'll just go shopping or something," I sighed. I would have loved to visit any of the places I'd listed, but if Rima didn't want to, I would deal with it.

After paying for our food, we walked outside and got a taxi to take us to an outdoor shopping center.

The place was crowded with people and vendors. Although there were several buildings, they were open with only a few walkways covered with roofs and some of the stalls selling hand-made jewelry, clothing, or souvenirs. On the corner of the street, a man played a guitar and sang "Here Comes the Sun". Around a corner, there was a huge crowd forming a circle around something that they were watching, but keeping their distance from.

Rima and I joined the crowd, and even I had to stand on my tiptoes to see what was going on. There was a man that was juggling a chainsaw with a few other items in the middle of the circle. The chainsaw was on.

"What's happening?" Rima asked, jumping up and down to see over the crowd. I grimaced, and grabbed her arm, leading her away.

"That's really interesting, but I don't want to stick around and watch, just in case."

"What was it?" Rima asked again, pulling her arm away from my grasp and looking at it in disgust.

"Some guy was juggling a running chainsaw," I said, and her eyes widened.

"I want to see that!"

"No, you don't."

"Why not?"

"Because… what if he slipped?"

"…" she was silent for a moment. "Oh."

"You see my point?"

She nodded, and we began looking through the stalls. Much of it was really quite boring. When we went into an area with several shops, and stairs that led down to even more, I saw an orchestra in a corner, playing lively music. People were gathered around the railing, looking down at them and clapping their hands and stomping their feet with the music.

I was beginning to not regret coming here—Rima was smiling. It was just a little bit, but I could tell she liked the atmosphere of the place. I found myself grinning, happy that she was content, even if it was just for a little while.

"Hey, Rima-chan, want some ice cream?"

She turned to me, eyes aglow, and nodded.

I led her to an ice cream shop I had spotted a few moments ago, and we walked in and began to look at all the different flavors.

The odd feeling of eyes boring into my back made me feel somewhat uneasy. I glanced over my shoulder, but didn't see anyone watching. There were other people in the shop, but none of them were looking in my direction. Still, I could have sworn someone was looking at me.

"Rima-chan, do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" She was contemplating ice cream flavors very seriously.

"Like someone's watching us?"

"There are lots of people here," said Rima, a small smirk growing on her face, "And it's not everyday you see a boy with hair as long as yours. There's bound to be people watching you."

I sighed.

**~Rima's POV~**

I must admit that I had fun shopping, although we didn't buy anything except for ice cream. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and did relatively nothing for the rest of the day. Well, besides several arguments.

Both Fujisaki and I wanted to take showers, so I went first. Then he had to go and command me to "hurry up". I swear that was the fastest shower I've ever taken. It was like someone had pushed the 'fast forward' button on a remote. Even though I was mad at him for doing that, I was glad it happened. I had an idea of how to take advantage of this curse…

Fujisaki got some extra covers and made a bed on the floor for himself. The floor was hard-wood, and I almost felt sorry for him. Despite how exhausted I was—from both jetlag and walking around all day—I found it hard to fall asleep.

There were so many thoughts running through my head which made such a loud buzz that it was hard to drown them out. However, there was one predominant emotion that stood out above the clatter of my thoughts—fear.

And on top of it all, the little fairy-like glowing specks that floated about the room acted like a nightlight. It was too light to sleep.

But finally, somehow, I managed it.

_I was on a beach, staring out at the ocean, towards the horizon. The air around me was hot and humid, and the sunlight hit my fair skin in a painful intensity. I could feel myself burning._

_ Glancing over my shoulder, I saw an eerie presence behind me. It was black, and dark like a shadow, but its shape was unidentifiable as it seemed to move like a swarm of insects. A scream tried to urge its way out of my lips, but I resisted with all my might._

_ A sickening feeling filled my stomach, and the urge to run overcame me. I looked back toward the ocean. There, somewhere in the distance, seeming to float on the horizon, was a bright light. It moved freely, while somehow managing to stay in the same place, glowing like a beacon of hope._

_ Although the sky was pure blue—cloudless—it began to darken, blotting out the sun. Before long, inky blackness was all around, the only light coming from the glowing object, way out there in the ocean. The shadowy form behind me began to close in, getting closer and closer, and I gave in to my urge to run._

_ My feet sunk into the sand, slowing me and tiring me, until I was panting with all my might, still trying to move my feet. I ran, and ran, until the cool ocean water lapped at my feet, and I gratefully plunged into it._

_ Water splashed around me as I struggled through it, fleeing from the dark presence which seemed to always be just a foot behind me, following me like a curse. My movement was slowed the deeper I got, until I was forced to lift my feet off the ground and swim._

_ The light: I had to reach the light. It was the only thing I could be sure of. The light would save me—free me from this shadow following me. Shadows could not survive in light. Clinging to this thought, I pushed forward, swimming with all my strength._

_ A current in the water seemed to grab onto me, wrapping around my ankles, attempting to drag me down with it. I kept swimming, trying to ignore it, but it was stronger than I._

_I was sinking. Soon, my head was submerged, and the salty water stung my eyes. Kicking with all my might, I tried to swim towards the light. My arms and legs flailed about in the water, but I only went deeper, and deeper, and deeper…_

**A/N: In any stories I write, dreams will—for the most part—be metaphorical. Rima's dream was. In case you didn't understand what the dream meant, here is an explanation:**

** The shadowy presence represents the curse, and the light represents freedom, or breaking the curse. The sky darkening shows the challenges Rima will have to face, and the sand and the water that slowed her down represent her hatred for Nagi.**

** Anyway, I hoped you liked it.**

** Please tell me what you think in a review.**


	6. In Which They Look for Cassandra

**A/N: Remember the market hall in the last chapter? I found the name of it when I was sorting through my shelves. It's Jubilee Market Hall (don't own). If any of you have been there maybe you can imagine it…**

Chapter Six:

In Which Rima and Nagihiko Run Around London Searching for Cassandra Vamist and Meet Two Very Dirty Goblins

**~Nagi's POV~**

I took a deep breath and pain shot through my ribs as my lungs expanded. My back was aching, and I groaned as I sat up. That was probably the most uncomfortable floor I had ever slept on.

When I got to my feet, I noticed that Rima was still asleep. Her long, golden curls fell softly around her face and spilled over one side of the bed. Long, deep breaths made her tiny body rise and fall slowly. I didn't want to disturb her, but we had to get going.

Reaching my hand outward, I gently shook her shoulder. Rima's eyes fluttered open, and then shut again as soon as she spotted me. Dismissively, she rolled onto her stomach and pulled her pillow over her head.

"Go away," her muffled voice came from under the pillow. "I'm still tired."

"Rima-chan," I sighed, "We need to get to work finding Cassandra Vamist."

"But I'm still tired," groaned Rima.

"May I remind you that coming here was _your_ idea?" I retorted sharply, and immediately regretted it. The one think I didn't need was Rima mad at me on top of simply loathing me.

Rima remained silent. I guess she didn't have an answer to that. Well, she was still laying there in bed… Although I hated to do it…

"Rima-chan, get out of bed," I commanded, my voice stern. She did, and glared at me. "Go get ready. We're going to leave soon."

Begrudgingly, Rima stomped into the bathroom with a few items she plucked from her suitcase and slammed the door behind her.

I waited for at least fifteen minutes before she came out.

"What took you so long?" I asked, not thinking about the question before I spoke.

"That was fast," she replied, placing what looked like a makeup kit into her suitcase.

"Rima-chan, you don't need to bother putting on makeup. We're just going to be running around looking for Cassa—"

"Running around London looking for a fairy," Rima cut in. "_Why_ don't I need it?" She looked mad.

"You just don't!" I said, "You're beautiful already."

Silence.

Rima closed her suitcase harshly and zipped it up. She plopped onto the bed, scowling, and turned on the television. "Your turn. Hurry up."

"I did, and we were in the lobby within ten minutes, getting in line for breakfast. We ate in silence, and I saw an unusual harshness in Rima's eyes.

Somehow, it made me feel guilty. I wanted to apologize, but I wasn't sure why. Swallowing harshly, I looked up from my food.

"I'm sorry," I told Rima. She raised a golden eyebrow.

"What for?" her face was questioning, and I breathed a sigh of relief—so I hadn't done anything specifically wrong.

"I don't know," I shrugged, "You seemed mad at me, and I thought it might have been something I had done."

"No," she said, jabbing the eggs on her plate with her fork. After a long pause, she added, "I was hoping that when I woke up, it would all be a dream. But I knew it wasn't true when I had this odd nightmare last night…"

I was lost for words. Instead of speaking, I nodded and just stared at my food. The silence was somewhat awkward, and eventually Rima cleared her throat.

"How are we going to find Cassandra?" she asked. Although I knew better, I took the opportunity to tease her.

"What?" I tried to look shocked, "You didn't think of that?"

"Well… no," Rima blushed slightly, looking away. "I thought _you_ had a plan."

"What made you think that?" I could feel a smirk growing on my face.

"Umm…" she looked worried.

"It's okay Rima-chan," I chuckled, "I have a plan."

She let go of her breath, relief evident in simply the way she held herself. It was nice to know she had been depending on me.

"So how are we going to find her?"

"Let me hear what you can come up with, first," I decided to torment her just a while longer. She glared at me.

Rima's brow creased in concentration. "Didn't Cassandra say she was here for vacation?"

I nodded.

"Then she'd probably be at some tourist attraction or major shopping area. We could try some of those places."

"Not bad," I replied, still smirking, "And most certainly more entertaining than my idea. But I think mine will be much more effective."

Rima crossed her arms and sat back in her seat, glaring at something on the wall to her left.

"What _is_ your plan?"

I frowned. "We're going to go different hotels and ask for Cassandra Vamist."

"And how are we going to do that?' Rima finished her breakfast and stood.

"You'll see," I replied, also standing with my empty plate. We placed them on a cart with a bunch of other dirty plates, and walked outside.

"It looks like it's going to rain," she said. Looking up at the sky, I nodded.

"Yes, it does."

"We're going to take a taxi, right?"

"Nope," I replied, and headed down the street, Rima a few feet behind me.

It took us a while to reach another hotel, and neither of us spoke for the entirety of the walk. As we walked into the lobby, Rima finally said something.

"How are we going to find Cassandra Vamist in here? Even if she _is_ here, she could be in any of the rooms."

"You'll see," I said, and walked up to the front desk. She followed me, and had to stand on her tiptoes to see very well over the high counter. "Excuse me, sir," I said to the man standing there, having already thought up a line that didn't require any lying. "We're here to see Cassandra Vamist. Could you notify her that we've arrived?"

"Cassandra Vamist?" asked the man, looking down at something behind the counter that I couldn't see. "There isn't a 'Cassandra Vamist' staying here. I'm sorry."

"Oh. We must be in the wrong place. We apologize. Thank you, anyway," I said, smiling. Turning to Rima, I gestured to her and we both exited the hotel. "See? It's that easy."

"That's boring," she said. "Are we going to do that all day?"

"Pretty much," I replied.

**~Rima's POV~**

I was bored. Purplehead and I have been wandering around London, going from hotel to hotel, asking for Cassandra Vamist.

I was starting to get hungry, and I was still exhausted from jetlag. The dream I had last night kept turning round and round in my head, and it was driving me nuts. On top of it all, I've been thinking about how to take advantage of my curse.

But to do that, I'd need Nagihiko's help, which is something I didn't want to ask for. Why? Isn't it obvious? If I asked Purplehead for help, it would hurt my pride. Plus, it would be admitting that I needed him.

By the time we'd visited at least twelve different hotels, I was famished. I told this to Nagihiko, and we decided to take a lunch brake.

"Hey, Purplehead," I said as we walked out of the café we'd eaten in.

"Yes?" he turned to me, unfazed by the nickname.

"I have an idea."

"I'm listening."

"Well, maybe our curses can be used to our advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you, but we need to find a place where there aren't a lot of people," I said. Nagihiko looked skeptical, but nodded. A few moment later, we walked into an alleyway that didn't have any people in it.

"Okay, what is your idea?" he looked impatient, as if he wanted to get back to searching for Cassandra and he was sure that my idea wouldn't work, even though he hadn't heard it yet.

"I have to do whatever I'm told, right?"

He nodded.

I took a deep breath, "Tell me to do something that isn't possible."

"Like what?"

"Like… tell me to float a foot off the ground or something," I suggested.

"No," he said firmly, crossing his arms.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because it's dangerous," said Nagihiko.

"If I fall _one foot,_ it isn't going to hurt me," I said, rolling my eyes. He shook his head.

"That's not what I mean."

"Then what _do_ you mean?"

"I mean it's too dangerous! It's not humanly possible. Who knows what could happen?"

"What could possibly happen from one simple command?"

"Rima-chan, you _have_ to do whatever anyone tells you. You don't have a choice. So if someone tells you to do something that isn't possible, your body will automatically try to do it. It isn't likely, but something very bad might happen if the task isn't possible. Like the effort of trying to do it, or whatever it takes, could hurt you—or worse."

"Nothing is going to happen," I said, confident that my idea would work. Besides, I didn't want to give up to Fujisaki. This was a risk I was willing to take.

"You can't know that for sure."

"Just give me a command!" I was getting irritated.

"No, Rima-chan, I refuse to take that risk. You could get hurt."

"That doesn't make sense! It's _me_ who's at stake, not _you_. Why would you even care if I got hurt? _I'm_ willing to risk getting hurt, but _you_ want me to stay safe even more than _I_ do," I blurted.

Silence.

Nagihiko stared at me for a moment, as if sorting out what I had just said. I stared right back, waiting for an answer. His shoulders slumped, and he closed his mouth tightly, as if trying to keep from saying anything. Was he trying to avoid answering my question?

He turned his head away from me, his bangs covering his eyes. "Come on, Rima-chan. Let's go look for Cassandra Vamist."

I would have stayed rooted to my spot had he not commanded me to come. The way he said it, I wasn't sure if it was even meant to be a command, but it worked the same way. My feet began to move, and I followed him out of the alley as we made our way towards the next hotel to look for Cassandra Vamist.

**~Narrator's POV~**

"This," said Cassandra, "Is soap." She pushed a bar of soap into Ardi's hands. "Have you ever heard of it?"

"Of course!" Ardi scoffed. "What do you think I am?"

"A _very_ dirty goblin," Cassandra replied without hesitation. "I want the two of you to take baths while I'm gone."

"But then all the peanut butter will be gone!" Ray protested. The fairy wrinkled her nose as she looked at the two young goblins, both of them filthy, and now with splotches of peanut butter in their fur and on their clothes.

"I guess I'll pick up some extra clothes for you while I'm out, too," she said, ignoring Raye. "I trust you know how to operate the shower?"

"Yes," Ardi said, sneering slightly. "We're not incompetent."

Cassandra briefly wondered where a goblin had learned a word as large as "incompetent", but decided not to ask.

"Okay, I'm going sightseeing now, and I'll pick up some things for the two of you on my way back. Don't expect me for a while, though. When you finish your baths, don't get back into those filthy rags. Here," she waved her wand and two sets of clean clothes appeared on the floor. "Wear those. But they're magic, so they'll only last until midnight. That's why I'm going to buy you some clothing."

"Thanks, Cassy," said Raye. The fairy nodded and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

"Great," Ardi rolled his eyes, "Now we're gonna have'ta take baths!"

"And all the peanut butter will come out of our fur," added Ray. There was a mournful silence. Suddenly, Raye perked. "I'm going first!" she barked, and darted into the bathroom of the hotel room they were staying in.

Ardi sighed and walked to the TV, pushing several different buttons before he finally turned it on. Being a goblin, Ardi had absolutely no idea how to read. So it took a long time for him to figure out how to change the channel.

When he did, he flipped through them until he found one that looked interesting enough, and used it to observe human behavior. He concluded that humans were very peculiar creatures, indeed.

After a while, some squeaking and banging came from the bathroom, and Ardi' head turned. It stopped, however, and he decided not to worry about his sister. She was probably simply afraid of the water, or was having difficulties operating the faucet.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

We had gone to every hotel within a reasonable distance—some by taxi—and Rima and I were now walking back to our hotel. There had been no sign of Cassandra Vamist; only a bunch of tiny glowing fairies all over the place. We'd already eaten dinner, and it was getting dark. The fact that the sky was full of storm clouds didn't help.

Knowing that it could be dangerous at night, I kept a close eye on Rima. She's so tiny and cute I'm sure someone would try to do something to her if I weren't here… Shuddering at the thought, I banished it from my mind and continued to scan the area around us for anyone that looked like they meant harm.

Something wet hit my arm.

"It's raining," said Rima, looking at the darkening sky. At that moment, rain started pelting out of the sky like each giant raindrop was a tiny bomb. The raindrops were so big and coming down so fast that they stung a little bit when they hit my skin.

Although I knew she hated it, I grabbed Rima's arm. We ran for the nearest shelter we could find—a wide awning in front of a closed shop. Both of us were silent, standing there listening to the roaring of the rain.

Rima sat on the step of the shop and hugged her knees, and I sat next to her. She didn't even bother to give me a glare, but just stared at the ground. She stifled a yawn, and rested her head on her knees.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan, we should have taken a taxi," I apologized. "Hopefully the rain will let up soon."

She simply nodded.

The sound of the rain was somewhat calming, and I found my eyes growing heavier and heavier. Of course, I couldn't fall asleep now. Pinching myself, I shook my head to keep myself awake.

"I'm tired. How far is the hotel?" asked Rima.

"Just a few blocks," I replied. "As soon as the rain gets a bit lighter we can start walking." I tried to sound optimistic, which was hard when I was so exhausted.

"How many hotels have we checked?" she asked. I wondered briefly if she was asking these questions because she was tired. It didn't seem normal.

"I don't know. A lot. The only one anywhere near here that we haven't checked is the hotel we're…" I trailed off, and sat up straight. "Rima-chan!" I exclaimed. She looked at me.

"What?" her face was hopeful.

"We never checked the hotel we're staying in!"

"Why is that important?" she asked. Yes, she was definitely very, _very_ tired.

"Cassandra Vamist might be staying in the very same hotel as we are."

"Oh," Rima brightened.

"We'll check to see if she's there, and if she is, we'll get some coffee and then go see her," I said, now impatient for the rain to stop.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the rain to become light enough for us to walk through it. By the time we got to the hotel, we were both pretty wet, but we were definitely more alert.

"Excuse me, Sir," I said to the man behind the counter in the lobby, "We're here to see Cassandra Vamist. Can you tell her we've arrived?"

The man looked at something behind the counter. "Cassandra Vamist? Ah, yes, it seems that she's expecting you."

At this, I was shocked. Rima must not have heard, because there was no reaction visible on her face.

"She's in room 347," said the man. I nodded to him.

"Thank you," I said, and motioned for Rima to follow me. Thankfully, there was some coffee in the lobby, and Rima and I both had some before we marched up three flights of stairs and down a hallway until we found room 347.

"What are we going to say?" Rima asked as we stood in front of the door.

"I guess we'll ask her some questions, and try to get her to take the curses off. If not that, hopefully she'll at least give us our charas back."

Raising my hand to the door, I tapped on it. A crash and a thud came from inside, and I couldn't help but cringe. I could hear the lock on the other side being undone, and then the door cracked open. A fox-like nose poked out, and from where I was, I could see a pair of dog-like eyes. The door was flung all the way open, and standing in front of me was the weirdest creature I had ever seen.

It looked like the bottom half of it was fox, the top half mostly human, and the head a mixture of both. It was wearing filthy cargo pants and a t-shirt, and the mop of reddish hair on top of its head was matted and greasy. It also appeared to have peanut butter rubbed into its fur and splattered on its clothes. It was considerably shorter than Rima.

We stared at it.

It stared at us.

There was a long silence, and eventually, Rima broke it. "Um, not meaning to be rude, but _what_ are you?"

The creature looked stunned, then shook his disgusting head, blinked at us, and said, "I'm a goblin. And you're a human."

"I know that," a tick mark appeared on Rima's head.

"That is, unless you're a very short fairy in disguise. Or maybe a dwarf. Or even a gnome," said the creature. I tried not to snicker. Rima looked ready to strangle the goblin. Come to think of it, she would make a very cute garden gnome.

"Um, we're looking for Cassandra Vamist," I cut in, before Rima could say anything rude. I didn't know what the goblin was capable of, and although I doubted it was much, I didn't want to take any chances by making it mad.

"Oh," said the goblin, "Figures." It looked over its shoulder and called, "Raye! The humans are here! What's their names? Niga and Ramihiko?"

A door inside the room opened, and out came another goblin. This one looked much the like the one at the door, except when I saw them next to each other, I could tell that the new one was female, and the one that had greeted us was a male. The female was wrapped in a towel and had a pile of soap suds on her nose and even more all over her.

"No, stupid! It's Rima and Nagihiko," she said. Rima raised an eyebrow, and I could tell she was thinking the same thing as I was: _how do they know our names_?

"Um, excuse me," I said, "We're looking for Cass—"

"Yeah, we know," said the male goblin. "She's not here right now."

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," the female said, "I am Rayenshyryna Essraddanaldtia Ceranddrisa Kalshyadine Elmkimrynathos Morqueranrod, and this is my brother."

"Arddanashorom Itraadasan Denashinbrack Vorunderemeng Gartiabelrodi Morquerenrod," said the male. "We go by 'Ardi' and 'Raye'."

"Uh… hello… Ardi and Raye," I said.

"Where is Cassandra Vamist?" demanded Rima. I frowned, but didn't say anything.

"How should I know?" the one called Ardi shrugged. "She left a few hours ago. Said she'd be back, but not when."

"Oh. Well, maybe you could answer some questions for us," I said. Raye nodded to Ardi and ran back into the bathroom. Ardi led us inside.

The room wasn't much different than ours, except that this one had two beds, was slightly larger, and smelled strongly of peanut butter and… something else. Rima wrinkled her nose.

"So why do you want to see Cassandra? She told us you'd probably be coming, but not why."

"We want her to remove our curses and give us our charas back," stated Rima.

"What makes you think she'd do that? She put the curses on you for a reason."

"So they _are_ curses," Rima said. "Cassandra called them blessings."

"A curse can be called anything, really, it just depends on the way you look at it," said Ardi.

"If Cassandra won't take the curses off, how do we break them?" I asked.

"Well, that depends completely on the rules of the curse," Ardi said. "And frankly, I don't know much about yours. But the standard cure is a kiss."

"We already tried that," I muttered.

"For the most part, a kiss can break any curse, but only under certain conditions. In your case, I'm assuming it would have to be something stupid like 'true love's first kiss'." He said the last part in a sort of mocking tone. "Which would mean it would have to be both parties' first kiss, and both of them would have to be in love with the other. Otherwise, it wouldn't work. That's why there is usually a backup cure for curses like yours."

This goblin creature was starting to annoy me. His voice was weird, and he kept talking and talking… It made me wonder why he was telling us all this. Wasn't he on Cassandra's side? In that case, shouldn't he be trying to keep us from breaking our curses? Maybe he was just stupid. That was highly probably, and I decided to just go with that and not worry about it right now.

"Since you seem to know so much about curses, can you remove them?" I asked. The goblin shook his head.

"Sorry, nope. Only the person who put the curse on you in the first place or another fairy of greater power can take it off."

"Then how do we break it?" Rima nearly yelled. Ardi jumped slightly and stared at her.

"I don't know. You may have already blown your chance. In that case, since Cassy won't take the curse away, you'll have to go to Titania."

"Titania?"

"Yes, the queen of the fairies."

**A/N: I'd like to give a special thanks to the anonymous reviewer "Star-chan". Her review made me happy and inspired me to update.**

** Also, sorry for the goblin's long names. I had a lot of fun putting them together, and I thought it would be a waste not to use them XD**

** Please review!**


	7. In Which the Plot Thickens

**A/N: This time I would like to thank Aquatwin for her review. It made me very happy :D.**

Chapter Seven:

In Which the Plot Thickens

**~Rima's POV~**

"You mean like the Titania from Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?" Nagihiko asked.

"Umm… Titania the queen of the fairies," said Ardi.

"Married to Oberon?"

Ardi looked stunned, "How'd you know?"

"I told you, Shakesp—" he began, but stopped and just shook his head. "Never mind that. Where is Titania?"

"At her palace! Where did you think she would be?"

"How do we get there?" I asked. Ardi turned to me and blinked.

"By portal stone, of course."

"A portal stone? Where do we get one of those?"

"Well—" the goblin began, and stopped as there was a knocking on the door. He ran to answer it, and in walked my very own fairy godmother. She was wearing an ordinary street dress and her wings were somehow hidden.

"Cassandra!" Nagihiko and I exclaimed at the same time. Her head turned in our direction and recognition ignited in her eyes.

"What are you two doing here? I thought—oh, yeah, that's right," she began. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Can you take our curses off?" I asked plainly.

"Yes, but I won't," Cassandra said. "You have to do that yourselves."

"How?" Nagihiko asked.

"I'm not telling," sang Cassandra. "Now both of you—out!" She took us by our ears light we were naughty children and dragged us into the hallway, where she dumped us.

"I thought you were supposed to be our fairy godmother," I said, touching my ear where she had grabbed it.

"I am," she stated, "And I'm doing what I think is best for the two of you."

The door slammed closed, and we both sat there, staring at it in silence for a while.

"Who knew fairy godmothers could be rude," Nagihiko said. I nodded.

**~In Japan, a few hours later (remember the time difference)~**

Amu flipped her phone shut and sighed. _Why isn't Rima answering?_ It was late enough in the morning that she should be awake. Rima didn't usually sleep in past ten. Well, there was only one thing to do about it: she would go see Rima herself.

Pulling her shoes on at the door, Amu yelled, "Mama, I'm going to Rima's house!"

"Okay," her mother called back cheerfully.

Amu closed the door behind her and took off down the street. It didn't take long for her to reach the Mashiro residence, and when she did, she promptly rang the doorbell. Rima's mother answered.

"Hello, Amu-chan," she smiled.

"Good morning, Mashiro-san. Is Rima here?"

"Oh, no she's not," said Mrs. Mashiro. "She's having a two week sleepover with Nadeshiko."

"N-N-Nadeshiko?" Amu managed to stutter. She was so shocked that all she could do was just stand there, staring at Rima's mother.

"Yes."

"Nadeshiko is back?" she began thinking aloud. "Why didn't she tell me!" Amu bowed slightly and excused herself. She began running toward the Fujisaki mansion.

_ Nadeshiko is back. Why didn't I know? Why would Rima be at her house? And for two weeks? That seems like a really long time. Something isn't right,_ Amu thought.

By the time she'd reached Nagihiko's house, she was panting really hard. Baaya answered the door and greeted Amu.

"The young master isn't here right now," she said.

"Is Nadeshiko here?" Amu asked.

"No, she is still studying in Europe."

"Oh. Uh, thank you, I need to be going," Amu said, and began the walk back to her own home. _Something is definitely wrong._

_To: M. Rima_

_From: H. Amu_

_Subject: Where are you?  
Rima-chan, where are you? Your mother said you were with Nadeshiko, but Nade-chan is still studying in Europe. And Nagihiko isn't home, either. What's going on? Did you and Nagihiko elope? XD Just kidding. But seriously, where are you?_

_~Amu_

**~In London, England; Rima's POV~**

Sometime in the early morning, I was rudely awakened by my cell phone. It was still dark outside, so after shutting the darn thing up, I went right back to sleep. When I woke up several hours later, I took a look at the text message I'd received. It was from Amu.

Hey, Nagihiko," I hissed to the boy sleeping on the ground next to my bed. Apparently, he hadn't really been asleep, because his eyes opened immediately and he turned to face me.

"Yes, Rima-chan?"

"Amu wants to know where I am," I said.

"So?" He asked. A tick mark appeared on my head.

"What should I tell her?"

"I don't know. Something that will make her not try to find us."

"Like what?" I asked, getting really irritated. How was I supposed to come up with something to tell Amu? If I told her a specific place, she might go there looking for me.

"Um… tell her that we eloped," he said in a teasing voice. _Crap._ Did he even realize that he just gave me a command? Whatever the case, he just dropped in my favor. Not that I favored him at all.

_To: H. Amu_

_From: M. Rima_

_Subject: Re: Where are you?_

_Yes, Nagihiko and I eloped XD_

I put the "XD" at the end in the hopes that she would think that I was joking. Then I sent the message and put my phone away. Nagihiko sat bolt upright on the floor.

"Did you seriously tell her that?"

"Well, you commanded me to," I scoffed. He put his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan, I forgot. I should have worded it differently."

"She'll think I'm joking," I stated blankly, knowing it was the truth. "Are we going to get breakfast? I'm hungry."

"Yeah… let's do that," he said.

**~At breakfast~**

Silence.

This was awkward.

"So what now?" I asked. Nagihiko sighed.

"I don't know," he said. "We can go talk to Cassandra Vamist and the goblins again. They might be able to answer some questions. "

So we finished our breakfast and headed to Cassandra's door swung open only a few moments after we knocked. Cassandra stood on the other side, staring at us, unblinking.

"What do you want?"

"First, we would like some answers," said Nagihiko. Nodding, she let us in and we sat on one of the beds, her on the other facing us.

"What would you like to know?"

"What are the limits of the curses?" I asked.

"The limits of your curse, Rima dear, are obvious," Cassandra began. A tick mark appeared on my head when she said 'Rima dear', but I didn't say anything. "You must do whatever anyone tells you. And although with strong willpower you can put it off, you will eventually have to do it, unless you are ordered otherwise.

"On the other hand, Nagihiko is not able to lie. He can remain silent, tell half-truths, or even tell lies if he truly believes they are true. But he cannot say something like 'the sky is pink'. Is that all? I have things to do."

"What about our charas?" I asked.

"What about them?"

"Can we have them back?" Nagihiko asked."

"Fine. Here," said Cassandra, shocking us both. Three eggs appeared in midair and dropped into our hands. I tapped mine.

"Kusukusu?"

"They're stuck in there until the curse is broken," Cassandra explained. I felt a sting in my nose and bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying.

"So we _are_ meant to break the curse?" Nagihiko's eyes lit up.

"Of course! But you have to figure it out on your own. Now before I leave, I have a question for Rima."

My head raised in surprise. "What?"

"What are your feelings for Nagihiko?"

"..." I wasn't sure how to answer. This could have something to do with the curse. Maybe she would take it away with a specific answer? But why? It didn't make sense to me, so I just decided to go with the same thing I've been saying since elementary school, "I hate him."

Cassandra frowned. "Very well. We'll have to raise the risk here, I see. Drat! These things are so hard to rhyme!" She tapped her chin with her wand. "Oh, I have it!

_Half-truths are not good enough_

_ You'll say only truthful stuff_."

Nagihiko and I both sweat-dropped at her lame rhyming skills. She waved her wand at Nagihiko, who looked horrified. "There. You can thank me later." Without a word of good-bye, she walked out the door and slammed it behind her.

"Wow, Cassy must be really serious about you two," said a nasally voice. I looked around but didn't see anyone. Suddenly, the female goblin from last night popped up from behind the other bed and I jumped at the sight of her.

"So why'd you come back?" asked another, more familiar voice, as Ardi popped up next to his sister. Both of them looked and smelled a world cleaner than last night.

"It looks like we have to find Titania," Nagihiko sighed.

"Ha! Good luck with that, humans," scoffed Raye.

"Is she hard to find?" I asked, still cradling Kusukusu's egg.

"No," Raye replied, "Not once you get to the Realm of Faerie. But you guys are humans, so the only way for you to get there is by portal stone."

"Where do we get one of those?"

"That's the hard part," Ardi said. Nagihiko raised an eyebrow questioning.

"There's only one portal stone in London that we know of," explained Raye, "And it's not going to be easy to get."

"You know where it is?" I asked eagerly, ignoring the second part of Raye's statement.

"Well..." she brought a paw-like hand up to her dog-ish face, "I _might_."

"Okay," Nagihiko rolled his eyes, "What do you want?"

"Peanut butter," she stated firmly, "A whole jar of it."

I blinked. _Is she serious?_

"Peanut butter?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Raye nodded. "Peanut butter. You give me a jar of peanut butter, and I'll tell you where to find the portal stone."

"Okay, it's a deal," Nagihiko nodded. "Where is the portal stone?"

"How do I know you'll bring me peanut butter?" Raye asked.

"He can't lie," I said, "He's telling the truth. We'll bring you some peanut butter. Tell her, Purplehead."

"Yes, we will give you a jar of peanut butter."

"Okay," Raye sat back on her haunches, looking satisfied. "The portal stone is with a lady named Susie Evergreen. She's a witch, and makes a living telling people's fortunes. You'll have to go to her shop and find the stone."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"That," Ardi piped up, "I can help you with. But I don't work for free, either."

"We'll give you a jar of peanut butter, too," said Nagihiko. The goblin shook his head and held up two digits on his front paw/hand.

"Two."

"Fine. Two jars of peanut butter," I said, getting irritated with the goblins.

"Good. I'll take you to her, then," said Ardi, "But you're on your own after that."

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter was so short. The next one should be longer, and definitely more exciting.**

**That blue button down there is magical. In fact, it's a portal stone. If you click on it, it will take you to the magical world of reviews, where you can write a review for this chapter! Why don't you click on it and see for yourself?**


	8. In Which Rima's Dream is Extended

**A/N: Trust me, you're not interested in why this is late.**

**Say, are any of you Soul Eater fans? If you are, go check out my poem "Ode to Symmetry". And if you haven't seen Soul Eater, I highly recommend it.**

Chapter Eight:

In Which Rima's Dream is Both Explained and Extended

**~Rima's POV~**

After paying the goblins their promised peanut butter, Nagihiko, Ardi and I began our long walk to wherever it was we were going. The sun was begging it's decent in the gray sky above us, and I wondered briefly if we would be back before nightfall.

"If you need a portal stone to get to and from the faerie realm, how did _you_ get here?" I asked Ardi in a tone that was less than pleasant.

"I'm a goblin, not a human," he said in his nasally voice. "Goblins can teleport."

"Then why don't you just teleport us into the faerie realm?" Nagihiko asked. I had been about to ask the same question. Ardi shook his head.

"It doesn't work that way. Goblins aren't very powerful."

"What do you mean?" stupid Fujisaki had to go asking more questions. Personally, I'd already learned enough and given up on the subject. There was absolutely no need to inquire more when the answer would probably be long, boring, and useless. I tuned their conversation out for a while, until I tripped over a cobblestone that was jutting out of the ground and bumped into Purple-head. I blushed slightly and righted myself, walking a few feet away from him.

"Goblins have only two types of power," Ardi was saying. "Basic curses and limited teleportation. To be able to teleport anywhere, there have to be two goblins to combine their power in order to do it. Otherwise, it doesn't work."

"Oh, I see," said Fujisaki as we rounded a corner. "What do you mean by 'basic curses'?"

"Like this," he said, stopping. I didn't even notice at first that he was staring directly at me. The goblin made some funny noise, and I felt something weird inside my head.

"What did you do?" Fujisaki asked.

"Watch," Ardi replied, turning to face me. "What's your name?"

"Chrysanthemum," I replied.

Purple-head's jaw dropped. "What did you _do_ to her?"

"I cursed her. Now she has to lie. She's not able to tell the truth."

"_Why?_" he looked really angry at the goblin.

"It's only temporary," Ardi waved a paw-like hand dismissively. "Have a little fun with it while you can." He relaxed a bit at this, but still looked skeptical.

"Rima-chan," he began.

"I told you, my name's Chrysanthemum." I couldn't control the words coming out of my mouth.

"Well then, _Crysanthemum_," he rolled his eyes. "Do you want to break the curse or not? Because standing around here isn't doing any good."

It was then that I noticed the three of us were just standing there, doing nothing. "Of course I don't want to break the curse!" I scoffed. "I want to stand right here for the rest of my life." To prove my point, I sat down on the ground.

Fujisaki turned to Ardi with an annoyed look.

"Okay, how do you make the curse go away?"

If goblins could smirk, then this one was definitely smirking. "It's a basic curse. All basic curses are broken the same way."

"Well, what is it?" he asked impatiently.

"Just kiss her. You don't even have to mean it," said Ardi. "But I would prefer it if you didn't kiss her. This is amusing."

Fujisaki ignored him, and and grabbed my arm, trying to pull me to my feet. "Come on, Rima-chan, let's go."

I shook my head, and he sighed.

"It's either that or you kiss me. You don't want to kiss me, do you?"

"Yes," I said. He dropped my arm and stared at me in astonishment.

"Rima-chan," he began.

"That's not my name," I said. A tick-mark appeared on his head, but it didn't seem like he was really aggravated about my lying.

"You want to kiss me?"

"Yes," I replied, slapping myself inwardly. I couldn't control anything I did—it was completely involuntary.

"Alright then, Rima-chan, but you asked for it," he said, and I got to my feet. Then the stupid Purple-head pecked me on the cheek and turned away, his face bright red.

The moment I was back to my senses, a dark aura began to waft off of me. "Purple-head," I growled.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan. It was to break the curse." He was sorry. He had to be. He couldn't lie. I sighed and dismissed the incident, although I didn't forgive him. Forgotten, but not forgiven.

No one asked Ardi any more questions.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

There was an awkward silence between us the whole rest of the way. Ardi began speaking once, but as soon as he saw the foreboding looks on our faces, he shut up. It seemed to take forever to get to the place where we were to meet Susie Evergreen. Finally, Ardi stopped in front of a plain wooden door in the middle of a network of alleyways.

"Well, this is it," said the goblin. "And I'm outta here." With that, he scampered off in the direction we'd come from before either of us could utter a word.

Rima glared at the empty spot where he'd been standing only seconds before. I sighed and knocked on the door, wondering what to tell Susie Evergreen. It wasn't as if I could just say, "Hi, our faerie godmother put a curse on us, and so now we need your portal stone to go to the faerie realm and get Titania to take the curses away. May we have it, please?" Well, I _could_, but I didn't think it would work very well.

However, the moment the door opened, I found that none of that was necessary. The lady standing in front of us was the same old lady that had been next to us on the plane—the one that had given me the love potion.

Her old eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, it's you!" she said. I gulped.

"Hey!" Rima said, "You were next to me on the plane!"

"Indeed I was," said the lady. "Rima and Nagihiko, right?"

I nodded. "Are you Susie Evergreen?"

"Yes, I am she. This is my magic shop." She held the door open and motioned for us to step inside. We did so.

The interior was dimly lit, and the walls were a deep, dark red that seemed to have a faint pattern like swirls. Bookshelves, counter-tops, and glass cases were filled with all sorts of trinkets, books, jewelry and random household objects. Some of the items seemed quite pointless, and others I had no clue as to what they were. In the middle of the room, there was a small table covered with dark blue silk, and it seemed to have been made into her desk.

She sat in a chair at the aforementioned table, and gestured for us to sit across from her. We did so, and waited while she pulled a box from under the tablecloth and set it in front of us.

"So did that potion come in handy?" she asked me. I felt myself turn bright red, and shoved my eyes in the direction of Rima to indicate that I didn't want to bring that up right now.

"What potion?" Rima asked.

"Oh, I see," said Susie Evergreen, ignoring her. She winked at me and whispered, "Use it soon." I only turned redder. Thank goodness it was hard to see in this dingy room. I suddenly realized something.

"Hey, I thought you said you were coming here to visit your grandchildren."

"I did," she said, "And then I left. They're a bunch of little snot-rockets."

"Snot-rockets?" Rima giggled.

"Yes, it seems as if their little noses are always running. They're like rivers of snot! And they all gang up on me and do dreadful things to my hair."

"How old are they?" I asked.

"Oh, how should I know? They're just puppies!"

"I thought they were your grandchildren," Rima pointed out.

"Yes, indeed, they are. And when I come to think of it, they're a lot more bothersome than puppies. And not half as cute."

I held back a snicker, and I could see Rima covering her mouth as she laughed silently.

"Goodness, I've gone off-topic again! Forgive me, why are you here?"

Both of us stopped laughing abruptly. "We came to ask a favor," Rima said.

"Oh, of course! What do you need?"

"We need to get to the faerie realm," I told her. "We came to ask for the portal stone."

"The portal stone? Well, as long as you return it when you're finished, I suppose you can have it. But I want one thing in return."

"What's that?" Rima asked warily.

"I'm just dying to read your fortunes!" She gave me a funny look. "Let me read your fortunes, and you can have the portal stone."

Rima and I exchanged a glance, and realized that she'd just given a command. Rima had to do as she was told, and if it meant getting the portal stone, I guessed there was no harm in letting Susie Evergreen read my fortune.

"Alright," I said.

"Okay, Rima goes first," she said, opening the box she'd placed on the table. Her old, gnarled hands pulled out large crystal ball, and she began muttering inaudible things. Her eyes brightened, and she seemed pleased. But it was only a matter of moment before her eyebrows creased. "Rima, you are on a beach. The sun in bright, and the sand is hot under your feet. There is a dark presence behind you, like a swarm of insects. The sky darkens, and you run from the shadowy object. The sand slows you down until you plunge into the water, which only slows you down more. You're heading toward a light on the horizon, but you aren't getting any closer. The farther you swim into the ocean, the slower you go. Eventually, the water overtakes you, and you are pulled down."

Rima's eyes were as large as saucers, and she was staring at Susie in amazement, a frightened look on her face. The old woman continued.

"A path rises out of the water. It is narrow and steep, and winds back and forth, but it is headed towards the light. You manage to reach it as you struggle against the water. You run up the path, staggering, your bare feet scraping against the sharp rocks on the path until they are bleeding. However, you are beginning to get closer to the light. You run and run, although your feet are soaked in blood, you are dripping with saltwater from the ocean, and your clothes are tattered. As you near the horizon, the path stops abruptly, and you are high in the sky, far above the water. The dark presence is still behind you, and you have a choice: be devoured by the shadow, or jump. You stand at the edge of the cliff, looking between the two fates for a few moments. And just as the shadow is at your heels, you leap off the cliff. You fall freely for only a few seconds, before you are swept into the sky by a pair of giant bright wings that have appeared on your back. Tears stream down your face, and you're smiling as you fly towards the light on the horizon. The wounds on your feet have heeled, and your clothes are perfectly dry and clean. And finally, you are enveloped in the light."

There was a long silence as the old lady finished.

"You seem shocked, dear, is something wrong?" she asked Rima.

"I had a dream... just like that. But it only got to the part where I was dragged underwater."

"Well, I believe I have an idea of what it means."

"Really?" Rima looked worried.

"Yes, each different obstacle in the vision represents an obstacle in your life. The dark presence that was following you probably represents your curse, which you're running from. The light is a goal that you're trying to reach—something that is very important. The sand that dragged at your feet, the water that slowed you down, and the rocks that cut you on the path all stand for something that you won't let go of in your life, possibly an ill feeling towards someone. Whatever this is, it will get in your way. The cliff shows a choice or time of hesitance, and when you choose to leap, you're freeing yourself of whatever it is that's slowing you down. Your wings represent that freedom, and the reaching the light is reaching your ultimate goal."

"So it doesn't mean I'm going to drown or something?"

"Of course not! The crystal ball only works in metaphors. Now it's your turn, Nagihiko," she turned to me.

"O-okay," I managed, feeling slightly frightened. She repeated the process.

"You are in the middle of a forest, a small hazy cloud lingering closely above your head. At your feet is a puppy with golden fur. You reach down to pet it, but it prances away. You follow it, and it disappears, but it comes back soon. You play with it, and it bites your hand, but you don't seem to mind. A bear emerges from behind some trees, and it charges at you. You throw yourself in front of the puppy, and let yourself be devoured by the bear. All the while, the cloud hangs above your head."

I blinked at her as she finished. I was glad she had already told me about the metaphor thing. "What does it mean?"

"It's much more simple than Rima's. The cloud represents a burden, probably your curse. The puppy is something precious to you, so precious that you would put it before yourself—even give your life for it. It is also something that is likely to hurt you in some way." She glanced at Rima, who looked very much confused.

"What would be that important to Purple-head?" At least she was listening.

I sighed and sat back in my seat. "Alright, you read our fortunes. Can we have the portal stone?"

"Yes, fine, you may have it. However, I warn you that the moment you take it from this building, it's magic presence will alert those who are looking for it. There are many that seek it, and they are willing to do anything to get it. Gather the things you wish to take as quickly as possible and activate it immediately afterward." She opened the box on the table again and pulled out a smaller box. "Enclosed is the spell needed to activate the stone. You'll need to be holding hands if both of you want to go." Susie Evergreen handed the smaller box to me, and I placed it in my pocket.

"Thank you, Ms. Evergreen," I said.

"Yes, yes, of course. Now be on your way," she said, rising from her seat. "I'll see you two lovely people again when you return the portal stone to me." The old lady shooed us out the door.

Rima and I began walking back toward the hotel. The sun had nearly set, and the alleyways were dark and unnerving. The only sounds were those of our shoes clicking against the cobblestones and the faint noises of traffic somewhere a ways off.

We rounded a corner that led us into yet another alleyway, which turned at the end in an L-shape. The sound of several other pairs of footsteps joined our own, echoing off the high walls around us. A most unpleasant odor filled the air, and something in the pit of my stomach told me that the company we were about to received should not be welcomed.

I slid my hand into the pocket containing the box with the portal stone, while my other hand took hold of Rima's wrist, readying myself to bolt at any moment. Rima began to speak, but I shushed her and she let my grip on her remain.

Sure enough, the footsteps got louder and the smell became stronger, and three giant, mutated shadows could be seen as their owners neared the corner. An equal number of beasts emerged, seeming to be goblins, only much larger than Ardi or Raye. In fact, these goblins looked very much like they would like to eat us—topped with peanut butter.

"They have it," said the largest of the goblins, drool falling out of his doggy mouth and landing on the ground with a _splat_. Rima flinched and wrinkled her nose.

"Give it to us," another of the goblins growled greedily. His voice reminded me of Golem from the Lord of the Rings, if the portal stone had been a ring.

I took a step backward, and so did Rima. She was shaking faintly under my grip, and on the inside, I was no better off. But I had to be confident, for Rima's sake. At least if she _thought_ I knew what I was doing, then maybe she wouldn't be as frightened. _Yeah, right_, I told myself.

The goblins lunged at us, and I jumped to the side, dragging the tiny blonde with me. I felt a filthy paw-like hand grab my arm, it's tattered claws digging into my skin. Clenching my teeth, I let go of Rima's wrist so that she could get away.

"Run!" I shouted at her. Her eyes widened, and I could see her struggling against the curse. But her feet moved anyway, and she looked over her shoulder at me as she fled.

**~Rima's POV~**

My feet wouldn't stop moving. I didn't even know where I was going, only that I was running away. My throat and lungs were burning, my mouth was dry, and my sides ached something awful.

Yet all I could think of as I ran was the scene that had just played out before I'd fled. _Why did Nagihiko tell me to run?_ Obviously so that I wouldn't get hurt. But that left him all by himself with those goblins. He'd known that I wouldn't have a choice when he commanded me. And yet another question that seemed to be nagging me: why did it bother me so much?

My feet finally slowed to a stop, and I doubled over panting. My sides were on fire, and every breath stung more than the last. I stopped gasping and breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, which was difficult considering my lack of air, but certainly helped after a while. After resting my hands on my head for a few minutes, my side-aches went away, and I looked at my surrounding to realize that I had no idea where I was. Well, besides that I was still somewhere in London.

Great. The sun had already gone down, I was all alone, lost in the middle of a giant city thousands of miles away from my home, I was exhausted and hungry and thirsty, my chara was gone, and on top of it all I had a curse that could easily kill me. What could possibly be more fun?

Anything! Absolutely anything! I would gladly kiss Purple-head a thousand times if everything would just go back to the way it was before Cassandra Vamist ever showed up. I swear I have never hated anyone—not even Fujisaki—as much as I loathed that faerie. She was completely and solely responsible for hacking and mashing and smashing my life into the mutilated and maimed, pathetic thing that it was now.

I wasn't even going to blame Purple-head for this one. If it weren't for our faerie godmother, he wouldn't be in this mess, either. And he was the one tangled up with those goblins. I guessed I was giving him a bit of forgiveness because he was getting beat up in my place. And if he died, at least I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.

But I shuddered at the thought. If Nagihiko were to die, how would I get home? Come to think of it, how would I even get back to the hotel? I was counting on him to come and find me. There were probably rapists in places like this. I could feel myself shaking, and I dropped to the ground, curling into a ball. I didn't even have the guts to cry. All I could do was just sit there and shake.

I don't know how long I sat there, wallowing in my fear, before I heard footsteps running across the cobblestones. They were getting closer, and I could tell that they were too light to be those of a grown man, but too graceful to be those of a child.

"Rima-chan!" I heard a familiar voice call to me. It was the first time in my life that I welcomed that voice, and I found the strength to look up.

Indeed, Nagihiko was running towards me, a little worse for wear, but not too badly beaten. He held out a hand and pulled me to my feet, and didn't let go as we swept down a few more alleyways and emerged onto a busy street.

I was already recovering from my fright, and it wasn't long before I had begun to relax. Nagihiko pulled me along at a fast enough pace that I had to stay very alert to keep up, but somehow I wasn't at all worried anymore. The path ahead of us was so simple. All we had to do now was use the portal stone to go to the faerie realm, get the queen to take the curse away, and fly back to Japan. Then everything would be over and I could go back to my old life.

We were nearing the hotel, and I was glad to see it. As soon as we got inside, we wouldn't have to worry about goblins and such things chasing us. The few minutes it took to reach the door felt much longer than they were, and when we finally stumbled into the hotel, both of us were breathing raggedly.

I felt a blush rise in my face as I noticed our hands, fingers entwined. By now I'd gotten use to Nagihiko holding my hand. It was harder for him to lose me that way, and if I stopped suddenly for whatever reason, he wouldn't keep walking without even realizing it.

But _this_. This was really unnecessary. I get that's it's not as easy for our hands to somehow slip out, yet it felt so different. Not to mention it looked different, too. Wasn't holding hands like this pretty much just something for lovers? Ha! That's a thought! I scoffed inwardly at the ridiculousness of that idea. I mean, seriously, Nagihiko and I in love?

Even Amu knows better than to think of such balderdash.

**~In Japan (don't forget the time difference)~**

_To: H. Amu_

_From: M. Rima_

_Subject: Re: Where are you?_

_Yes, Nagihiko and I eloped XD_

"WHAA?" Amu exclaimed, looking at her cell-phone in utter shock. It took a few moments for her to get over the initial surprise and decide what to do. She frantically dialed a familiar number and held her cell-phone to her ear.

"Amu-chii!" greeted a voice on the other end.

"Yaya! Rima and Nagi eloped!"

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I got distracted by schoolwork and Soul Eater and other things. But I shall never abandon any of my fics! So I'll get the epilogue of the Million Dollar Bet up as soon as I can.**

** Anyway, please review!**


	9. In Which Feelings Change

**A/N: I would like to thank Riri-chi, Aquatwin, and Star-chan, who always give me awesome reviews. Also, a thanks to Saki Toyo for her advice.**

Chapter Nine:

In Which Feelings Change

**~Recap~**

"_Yaya! Rima and Nagi eloped!"_

**~End recap~**

…

…

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and Amu briefly wondered if Yaya was still there. Finally, she spoke.

"What is 'eloped'?"

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

Rima and I each had a cup of coffee so we would be wide awake when we met Titania. Afterward we headed to our hotel room and packed a bunch of things into our carry-on bags, just in case we ended up staying in the faerie realm a few days.

As I placed the last few items in my backpack, I noticed the love potion was still in there. I began taking it out, but Rima glanced in my direction, and I stuffed it into my pocket before she could see it, then slid my backpack on.

"Where's the portal stone?" she asked. I took it out of my pocket—the same one I had put the potion in.

"Here," I replied, opening the box. Inside was a small green stone that was glowing faintly. Beneath it was a slip of paper with some strange words written on it. I took Rima's hand, the portal stone in the other, and read the words aloud.

In the blink of an eye, we were no longer in the hotel room. It was just like that: here, and then there. There was no flash of light, or fading surroundings, or blackness, or anything. We were just _there_.

_There_ might be described as a clearing in the middle of a forest. But the forest was so thick it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. A narrow dirt path wound its way through the clearing and disappeared into the darkness of the forest. There was a sign at the treeline pointing into the forest that had a picture of a crown on it. I was briefly reminded of Tadase, but I brushed the thought aside and turned my attention to the situation at hand.

Speaking of hands, Rima had let go of mine. I noticed I was still holding the portal stone, and put it away. "I think we go that way."

Rima looked in the direction I was pointing and nodded.

**~In Japan~**

"What are we going to do?" Amu asked, tapping her chin.

"Yaya has no idea," said Yaya. Both girls were sitting on Amu's bed. After an explanation, Yaya had decided to come over. "Is Amu-chii sure they eloped?"

"That's what Rima's text says!"

"Oh, well why don't you call Nagi and see if he agrees?"

"That's a good idea!" Amu grabbed her cell-phone and dialed Nagihiko's number. After a moment, her face fell. "His phone must not be on."

"That settles it! They eloped!" Yaya jumped to her feet. "We need to find out where they went so we can bring them back."

"They can't have gone far," Amu put in.

"And Yaya shall get some help!" she took out her phone and began pushing buttons.

"What are you doing?"

"Yaya's telling the rest of the guardians so they can help."

"But the rest of the guardians... is just Tadase," she pointed out.

"Then Yaya's telling Tadase _and_ Kukai. Amu-chii should tell Iku-kun and Utau-chii."

"No need," said a deep, velvet voice. Both heads turned to find a blue-haired catboy sitting in the open balcony doorway. Even though Ikuto was now an adult, he still liked to bother Amu.

"Ikuto! How'd you get in?" Amu exclaimed.

"You left the door open," he pointed out.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

"We're here to see Titania," I explained to a faerie who had inquired upon our arrival at the palace. The faerie was neither tall nor short, and had blond hair that fell just past her shoulders. She wore a long turquoise dress that matched the color of her shimmering wings.

"You wish for an audience with the queen?" she asked in astonishment, her blue eyes widening.

"No, we just want to talk to her," Rima said. "We don't want an audience. Or even a stage, for that matter."

"Rima-chan, that's not what she means," I said quietly.

"Well I can see when the queen is available, but I can't promise anything," said the faerie. "Follow me."

She led us through a few corridors and down a long hallway, then stopped at a huge pair of double-doors, intricately carved and painted with gold. She whispered something to a male faerie, who slid inside the doors and came back a few minutes later.

"I'm sorry," said the faerie lady, "The queen is occupied and so shall be for the rest of the evening. However, she will hold an audience with you tomorrow. In the meantime, you are to be fed and accommodated. I will take you to the kitchen."

Rima seemed pleased at this, and I certainly didn't have any objections. Neither of us had eaten anything since lunch, and I imaged Rima was as hungry as I was. As we walked, the faerie lady spoke to us.

"My name is Shymaera. By what may I call you?"

We told her our names.

It wasn't long before we entered the kitchen, a place bustling with activity. Shymaera had us sit at a cluttered wooden table, and a faerie with dark, hip-length hair and silver wings came running towards us. The two faeries embraced and began talking excitedly. Eventually, they calmed down and took on serious expressions. Rima and I remained silent, watching this exchange with confusion.

"They are in need of a place to rest," said Shymaera. "Shall we let them have our chambers?"

"We can stay with my sister," the dark-haired one replied. Shymaera nodded and turned to us.

"Rima and Nagihiko, may I introduce Raven? She will bring you something to eat, while I ready sleeping quarters for the two of you." Bowing slightly, she ran off.

"I shall return in a moment with your food," Raven told us, and disappeared, only to come right back holding a goblet full of liquid the color of Rima's hair. "The queens beverage," she explained. "I would be most appreciative if you were not to touch it. I'll fetch you something to eat right away." And with that, she left yet again.

Sighing, Rima dropped her head to the table and closed her eyes, drumming her fingers against the wood surface. I stared at the drink, and the strangest, most irrational idea popped into my head.

I have no idea what possessed me to do such a thing.

Carefully, I slipped the love potion out of my pocket, opened the bottle, and poured its contents into the Queen of the Faerie's drink.

**~In Japan~**

"So she texted you and told you they eloped?" Ikuto raised an eyebrow, and Amu nodded in response.

"Yaya saw the text! It's true!" exclaimed Yaya.

"I asked her where she disappeared to," Amu explained, "And I added 'did you and Nagi elope?' at the end just to tease her. Then she said, 'yes, we eloped'."

"It sounds to me like she's making a joke," Ikuto said.

"But Rima-tan doesn't joke about those things!" Yaya protested.

"Can I see the text?"

"O-okay," Amu opened up the message and handed the phone to him. Much to her surprise, he began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Yaya demanded, looking over his shoulder.

"She's kidding," he replied, giving Amu her phone back, and delivering a soft blow to her head with it. The pinkette's cheeks turned the same color as her hair, and she crossed her arms as she turned away.

"How was I supposed to know?"

"The emoticon," Ikuto said dryly.

"Awww!" Yaya wailed in dissapointment. "Yaya wishes Rima and Nagi eloped. That would have been so cute!"

"Hey, if they didn't elope, then where are they?" Amu asked, her blush vanishing. "We still have to figure out where they are, since both of them are missing."

"Hurray!" Yaya exclaimed. "Yaya wants to have an adventure!"

"Count me in," Ikuto piped up.

"Why would you want to help?" Amu scoffed.

"Because I'll get to be with you the whole time," he said in a half-teasing, half-seductive tone.

Amu's blush returned, and she began shouting at Ikuto, who seemed indifferent.

**~Nagihiko's POV, about 15 minutes later~**

"Her Majesty changed her mind on what kind of drink she wants. Now I must prepare another one for her. Would one of you like this?" asked Raven, pointing to the drink I had poured the potion into.

"I'll take it!" Rima piped up, peering curiously into the goblet she was handed.

First she dipped a finger in and tasted the drink to see if she would like it. A pleasureful expression lit up her face and she brought the goblet to her lips.

It happened too fast for me to stop her.

"Wait, Rima!" I began, realizing what would happen if she drank that.

"I never gave you permission to call me that," she reminded me. And with that, she drained the goblet.

I sat there watching in misery. What if the potion was really poison? What if Rima got hurt? What if it actually _worked_? What would I do then? I grabbed fistfuls of my hair and groaned.

"Nooo," I moaned quietly to myself.

"That's really good," Rima commented, "It tastes kind of like vanilla ice cream."

"Rima-chan," I whispered. She turned to me.

"What?"

I was about to speak, but suddenly, Rima's head dropped onto the table with a soft thud. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be sleeping.

"No! I _knew it_! How could I have been so stupid! Rima! Rima-chan, wake up!" I shook her gently, and when she didn't wake, shook her again, harshly this time.

Laying my head next to hers on the table, I studied her face. It didn't seem particularly pale or red or anything, which was a relief.

Her eyes opened, and she stared at me for a moment, her cheeks turning slightly pink. I found myself blushing at how close our faces were, but she didn't seem to notice. In fact, she smiled. Rima _smiled_ at me!

"Hi, Nagi~" she said. I blinked and sat upright.

"D-did you just call me 'Nagi'?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. If you don't want me to, then I won't call you that anymore," her expression dulled.

"N-no, it's f-fine," I stuttered. Stuttering wasn't something normal for me. And Rima was acting so strangely... it was scaring me.

The love potion must have worked.

**A/N: Sorry it was short. But I have big plans for this story! And hopefully the next chapter will make up for how short this one was... in fluff! I'm warning you now: the next chapter absolutely _will_ have fluff in it.**

**But while you're waiting, why don't you visit the magical world of reviews? I would really appreciate it if you did.**


	10. In Which There are Many Awkward Moments

**Sorry for making you guys wait again. Life has been hectic.**

**By the way, for those of you who didn't notice earlier, the rating has been changed to T, mostly for things that will take place in future chapters (both violence and mature content/references).**

Chapter Ten

In Which there are Many Awkward Moments 

It was impossible. Absolutely impossible! There was no way that tiny vile of liquid I had impulsively poured into the queen's drink actually worked. It was ridiculous. Rima must be playing some kind of game. Rima was smart: maybe she _knew_ that I put that potion in there, and now she was just messing with me. She was just playing a cruel joke. That was all.

I believed it. That was all there was to it: Rima being spiteful. She was entertaining herself. The love potion was not real. It couldn't be. I decided to let Rima play her joke, and see how long it would last.

Thankfully, Raven brought our dinner to us right then, breaking what would have been a terribly awkward moment. The food was all exotic—strange fruits I'd never seen before, some sort of bread that had a pinkish tinge to it, and what looked like water with blue food-coloring in it.

I stared at the meal for a moment, partly in astonishment, and partly in apprehension. Raven looked at as both expectantly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Oh... um... thank you for feeding us," I smiled. Rima nodded in agreement and smiled, too. The faerie girl smiled back, nodded, and left.

I stared at my food a while longer before prodding it with my fork. Glancing at Rima, I noticed that she had already begun to eat the pinkish bread. When she noticed my gaze, her cheeks darkened considerably.

Concluding that the food was safe, I began to eat my meal. It was actually pretty good. The fruit tasted similar to an orange, but the blue beverage was too strange for my taste. I set it aside and ate everything else.

Rima, however, drank the whole of hers. When she was finished, she stared at me for a while. It was quite unnerving.

"Is.. there something you want, Rima-chan?" I asked.

"Are you going to drink that?" she pointed to the glass of blue liquid. I shook my head.

"No."

"Can I have it?"

"You want it?" I raised an eyebrow. "But I already drank out of it."

"I don't mind," she was blushing again.

"Well... I don't see why not," I said, turning away from her. I'd known that Rima could force tears since I first met her, but I never knew she could fake-blush. That girl would be a huge success as an actress.

Raven came back a while later and gave us directions to our 'sleeping quarters'. I repeated them to myself over and over again in my head as Rima and I walked down a long hallway. After passing through a giant doorway, we found ourselves at the edge of a grassy field in what appeared to be a courtyard. Spread widely across it was a sight to behold: faeries—at least a few hundred of them—were garbed in armor or padded in leather, almost all of them holding some sort of weapon.

We just stood there for a moment, staring in awe as we watched the faeries practice swordplay, archery, jousting, and just about anything that had to do with battle. It was then that I recalled that we would have to cross the field in order to get to the door on the other side, which led—in a roundabout way—to the place where we would stay that night.

I scanned the courtyard carefully and decided on a route I thought looked safer than the rest. Glancing at Rima, I grabbed her hand to make sure we wouldn't be separated in the maelstrom. A slight blush tinted her cheeks as she laced her fingers through mine. I decided to ignore this and concentrate on getting across the field in one piece.

It ended up not being as big of a deal as my mind had originally made it, because as we wove between faeries and horses and practice-dummies and piles of equipment, some of the faeries would stop what they were doing for a moment to let us through. So it only took a few minutes to cross the field and enter the door on the other side.

When we were safely in the corridor, I began to let go of Rima's hand. She must have felt this, because she held on tighter. For the moment, I pretended not to notice and just let her hang on, but I was seriously debating with myself inside my head. How long was Rima going to keep this game up? Somewhere deep down, I was beginning to have doubts that it was even a game. Yet my mind refused to let me think that. I didn't want to believe that the love potion had worked.

There were two hallways that forked off the corridor ahead of us, and something in the pit of my stomach was bothering me. My thoughts had distracted me for long enough that I had forgotten Raven's directions, and now I had no idea which way to go. Thankfully, Rima seemed to have remembered, and headed straight down the corridor we had been following since entering the building. It didn't seem quite right to me, but since I didn't have any better ideas, I went along with it.

Up until now, neither of us had said anything. Rima was the first to break the silence.

"Nagi," she began. I didn't let her finish.

Pulling our hands apart, I stopped right where I was. She stopped, too, and looked at me in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"'_What's wrong?'_" I repeated, my voice a bit louder than necessary. "I should be asking _you_ that question! What kind of a game are you playing?"

"What do you mean by 'game'?"

"Why have you been acting so strange? Calling me 'Nagi', and blushing all the time, and being nice to me, and lacing our fingers together, and not even making mean comments or calling me names!"

"Mean names?" she frowned.

"Yes, like you used to call me 'Purple-head', or 'Cross-dresser'," I was nearly yelling.

"I'm sorry for calling you those things," she hung her head.

"See? Just like that. Why aren't you being nasty to me?"

"Why would I be nasty to you? I love you."

Knowing Rima, this would be as far as she was willing to take this game. I was going to put an end to this now; I wanted the old Rima back.

"No, you don't. You hate me, remember?" I brought my voice back to a normal volume, although it was still full of irritation.

"I don't hate you! I love you!"

"Then prove it!"

Silence.

I could hear the wind rushing through the stone corridors, and the ever-so-faint noises of the courtyard.

She looked up at me, frustration clear on her face.

"How?" she demanded.

I stared at her a moment, knowing it was my chance to end this.

"Kiss me."

She would never do it. She hated me with all her guts, and even if she didn't, she would never let go of her pride enough to do such a thing.

It was because of that that I was in complete shock when she stood on her tip-toes, placed her hand on my cheek, and brushed her lips gently against mine. I melted into it, holding her close to me and kissing her back. She wound her arms around my neck, and deepened it.

It was so much better than the time we had kissed at the park in Japan to break the curse only a few days ago. This time, Rima seemed to be enjoying it, too, and I would have been content to just stand there in that corridor all day, kissing her.

But I realized then what this meant: the love potion had worked. Everything Rima had said or done since drinking that potion was completely against her will. She may even be conscious of it, like she was when Ardi cursed her with the lie-curse in London.

I pulled back and pushed her away, turning so she couldn't see my face. I could hear her gasping ever-so-slightly behind me, and I clenched my fists. It was all I could do not turn back around and start kissing her again.

I was extremely grateful when I heard soft, rapid footsteps heading towards us. However, my hopes sunk when I saw who it was.

Ardi and Raye.

The goblins took one look at us and both of them burst out laughing, rolling on the ground and howling their lungs out. "She... took the.. potion... didn't she?" Raye managed between guffaws.

"How would you.." I began, staring at them. They finally calmed down. "How do you know about the potion?"

"Let's just say you have a lazy faerie godmother," Raye said helpfully.

"She means, Cassy's supposed to keep an eye on her godchildren at all times, but she's too lazy, so she hires us to watch you."

"You mean we're being babysat?" Rima raised an eyebrow.

"No, not like that. We just pop in every-so-often and make sure you haven't killed yourselves."

"Then how would you-"

"Anyway," Raye continued, "Aren't you guys looking for something."

"Right this way," Ardi didn't wait for either of us to answer, but began trotting off the direction Rima and I had come. Raye scampered after him, and Rima and I followed the goblins. I wasn't sure where they were leading us, but I was beginning to trust them. However, I was still surprised when they stopped in front of a door and claimed that it was our 'sleeping quarters.'

Ardi opened the door and we peered in. There was one open window with cloth curtains drawn aside to let in some light, and the room was, like ever other room in this place, made of stone. It had a large wooden wardrobe and a door to what I assumed was the bathroom.

I bet you can guess by now what was jutting out into the middle of the room, it's headboard pressed against the wall. Yep, that's right: _one_ bed. This was becoming clichéd.

I eyed the stone floor warily, the idea of sleeping on it growing less appealing by the second.

"Well, see ya!" said Ardi, and the siblings left.

"Looks like I'll be sleeping on the floor again," I sighed. Rima looked at me questioningly.

"Why would you do that?"

"So you can have the bed."

"But it's huge! I'm sure there's enough room on it for both of us."

And that was how I ended up laying awake late at night, staring at the ceiling, in the middle of a giant bed in Queen Titania's palace, with Rima sound asleep only a few feet away. Needless to say, it was a long time before my eyes drooped closed and I was able to rest, regardless of how tired I really was.

**~Rima's POV~**

I slit of light coming from between a pair of curtains woke me, and confusion took over my head. I was in a bed in a room with walls of stone. There was a wardrobe in a corner that had lots of intricate carvings all over it. Shifting slightly, I noticed that the bedposts were also elaborate. Where the heck was I? And how did I get here?

I slowly rolled onto my other side, and my brain froze when I saw a mass of long purple hair flowing all over the place. And there was Nagihiko, sound asleep. There really wasn't much more to it than that. I could say he looked much more innocent when he was asleep, but Nagihiko rarely truly looked guilty of anything in the first pace. That is, besides cross-dressing. He always looked guilty of that, except when he was actually dressed as Nadeshiko. But back to the main point, he looked very... normal.

It took a moment or so for it to occur to me that _Fujisaki_ was asleep right next to me. And then I realized that we were in the same bed... and then my mind went spastic.

Purple-head woke up when I yelled at him, and he looked at me in confusion.

"What's wrong, Rima-chan?" he asked sleepily.

I couldn't even bring myself to say anything. I tried—I really did! But no words would come out of my mouth.

"Are you still..." Fujisaki began. "Er... what I mean is, the potion... umm..."

"_What happened_?" I finally managed. "I was eating dinner, and then I drank that drink, and then I woke up here. _What happened?_"

"Erm..."

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"Well... Susie Evergreen gave me a love potion, and I put it in Titania's drink hoping that it might make her want to take our curses away. But then you drank the potion and..."

"And what? What did we do last night?" I demanded, becoming more and more shocked by the second.

"Um..."

He couldn't lie. There was something he didn't want to tell me, and it was making me nervous. I started yelling at him, but couldn't bring myself to complete any of my sentences, so nothing I said made any sense.

"Rima-chan, it's fine. Everything's okay," I tried to calm me down. "I'll tell you exactly what happened last night."

My face was red with anger, but I stopped talking and glared at him while he spoke.

"You started acting funny, and we ate dinner, then came here."

"That's it? Nothing else went on between us?"

"Well, we held hands when we were crossing the courtyard so we wouldn't get separated."

"Is that all?" I glared even harder.

"N-no. You k-kissed me." He was blushing really hard.

"_WHAT?_"

"You were the one who kissed _me_, not the other way around!" he protested.

"It was on the cheek, right?" my voice dared him to say otherwise. But I knew he couldn't lie if he had to.

"No. The mouth," he said, looking anywhere but at me.

"How long did it last?"

"..."

"Fujisaki," I warned.

"Longer than it should have."

"But you resisted, didn't you?" I asked, truly hoping that he had.

However, at that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Purple-head ran to answer it. Shymaera was on the other side, and she stepped in when the door opened.

"Your audience with Her Majesty is in forty-five minutes. I came to make sure that you were ready."

I jumped off the bed, and my bare feet collided harshly with the cold stone floor. Picking up my backpack, I began to open it, but the faerie stopped me.

"I'm afraid that whatever clothing you have with you will not be appropriate for a formal audience with Titania. I shall give you both some clothing that will be proper." She pulled something out of nowhere and handed it to Fujisaki. "You may keep it."

He disappeared into the bathroom (which was, surprisingly, inside) and came back out a few minutes later wearing plain brown pants and a blue tunic with fancy designs embroidered on the sleeves and hem. Shymaera gave him a pair of boots and shoved him out the door, closing it behind him.

"Here," said Shymaera, shoving a dress not unlike her own into my hands. "Put it on."

"But," I began, "This-" She hushed me and gave me a push towards the bathroom.

I tried the dress on, and took a look in the full-length mirror hanging on the wall. It was a pale, shimmery blue that was every-so-slightly transparent—not half as bad as some I'd seen around here—and fell about my feet, nearly touching the ground. The sleeves were elbow-length, and had a sort of tattered look at the ends, as did the the hem of the dress. I blushed slightly as I stared at myself in the mirror: the dress had a very low neck line.

It was exceedingly uncomfortable. I tried pulling the neckline up, but it just fell back down. Over the past few years, my chest had finally grown a bit. It wasn't much, but it was enough that this dress was very immodest. After several more useless attempts to raise the neckline, I sighed in aggravation and stepped out of the washroom.

Shymaera glanced at me and said, "It works."

"But it comes _way_ too low!" I protested, gesturing to the collar of the dress. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Rima, it was the only one I could find in your size."

"Fine," I huffed, pulling some of my hair in front of my shoulders in the hope that it would possibly hide some of my cleavage. It didn't help much.

**~Nagi's POV~**

Rima and Shymaera finally came out of the room, and the fairy said something to Rima before walking away. I looked at the petite blonde, and my eyes were immediately drawn _downward._ At first, I was surprised to see that she was no longer as flat as a board, and I chuckled inwardly at Rima's pitiful attempt to hide her exposed chest with her hair. Averting my eyes, I noted that she was glaring at me.

I walked over to her and tugged at the shoulders of her dress. Rima gasped and stiffened. "W-w-what are you d-d-doing?"

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan, but this dress comes far too low. There is no way I'm going to let you walk around like that when there are plenty of male fairies around here that will be _looking_ at you. So I'm trying to fix it."

"It's not like I picked this dress," she said, crossing her arms.

"Don't do that," I said.

"Do what?"

"Don't cross your arms. It makes the collar fall even lower," I said, still fiddling with the shoulders of the dress.

"It's really loose in the back. I think that might be part of why it does that," she said. By now her face was bright red.

"That's because fairies need low-backed dresses for their wings," I reasoned, moving some of her hair off her back so I could try to tighten it. "Do you have a hair pin?"

She handed me a pin out of nowhere, and I pulled the back of the dress together and pinned it in place. Then I spun her around to find that I had been somewhat successful in that endeavor.

"Well, it's a little bit better," I pointed out. Rima nodded, still blushing, and turned the other way.

We walked down the long hallway and back across the courtyard, which was not half as crowded now in the morning. When we reached the large double-doors that we had seen the day before, Raven was there, and took us through the doors into the giant throne room of Titania.

A long, narrow carpet led to the dais, where sat two thrones, one empty, and the other occupied. The faerie sitting in the throne stood. She was very tall, with icy blue eyes, alabaster skin, and thick, chocolate-colored hair that swirled in tight ringlets down her back. Her face was stern and angular; a sinister beauty. She wore a sleeveless dark purple dress that showed off her deep curves and wide hips, its neckline exposing far too much of her large chest. The silver band around her head and the dark purple cape flowing behind her defined her nothing less than royalty.

"You are the mortals that wished to speak with me, I presume." Her voice was hard and cold.

"Yes... Your Majesty," I wasn't sure how to address her, but no one seemed to mind my choice of words, so I continued. "We've come to ask a favor."

"And what might that be?"

"We want to ask you to remove our curses."

"I see. And how did you come to be cursed?"

"Our faerie godmother cursed us," Rima said.

"I'm sorry," Titania shook her head. "In that case, I shouldn't do anything about it. Faerie godmothers have the right to do whatever they think is best for their godchildren."

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

"I do have the power to overwrite whatever a godfaerie says. However, I have my own priorities."

"What does that mean?" asked Rima.

"I'll remove your curses," Titania replied, "On one condition. My husband, Oberon, King of the Faeries, is deathly ill. The only thing that can cure him is the sap of the Agara Tree, located in the land of Erayu. Get this sap and bring it back to me, then I shall remove your curses. However, my husband's own servant, Puck, also has offered to look for the cure. If you are not back soon, I will send him to find it. If he manages to bring it back to me before you do, your curses will not be removed."

I glanced at Rima and couldn't help but notice the fear on her face. I realized that what Titania had said had been stated as an order, even though she had meant it as an offer. Rima nodded to me, and I addressed the queen.

"We accept."

**A/N: That blue button down there will magically turn purple if you click on it. XD**


	11. In Which They Receive Riding Lessons

Chapter Eleven:

In Which They Receive Riding Lessons from a Faerie

**~Rima's POV~**

"Who is this 'Puck' guy that Titania mentioned?" I asked as Raven and Shymaera led us out of the throne room.

"You mean you've never heard of him?" Purple-head looked at me in astonishment.

"No. Should I have?"

"You've never heard of Puck? '_Lord, what fools these mortals be_'? Robin Goodfellow? The troublemaker and prankster from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_!"

"What's that?" I frowned. It sounded somewhat familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it.

"_A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is one of the most famous Shakespearean plays. Apparently, it was more than that. In the play, Titania was the Queen of the Faeries, and Oberon the king. Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, was Oberon's personal jester and servant."

"It doesn't really matter, though, does it?" I glanced at Shymaera and Raven, who were beginning to give us weird looks. Changing the subject, I addressed the faeries. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"To prepare you for your quest," Shymaera answered. "First, we need to equip you properly, and teach you a few things you'll need to know. I assume neither of you have experience in fencing, correct?"

We both nodded.

"In that case," Raven said, "My sister will instruct Nagihiko in swordplay while Shymaera and I will teach Rima a few things she'll need to know."

"Don't I get to use a sword, too?" I huffed, crossing my arms. The dark-haired faerie looked and me and covered her mouth as she laughed. It was not a graceful laugh, like one might expect from such a being, but simply a normal one.

"Excuse me," she said. "We don't believe it will be necessary for you to wield a sword."

What she probably meant was "We don't believe you'll be capable of wielding a sword." I clenched my fists and glared at Nagihiko. Don't ask why I glared at him even though it was Raven that had made me angry. I just did. Probably out of habit.

When we reached the courtyard, Purple-head followed Raven to receive fencing lessons. Shymaera took me back to the room where we had stayed the night before and opened the wardrobe that was against the stone wall. She took two satchels out of it, and placed them on the bed.

"What are those for?" I asked.

"To take on your quest, of course."

"Is there something wrong with our backpacks?"

"No," she frowned. "But I think you'll find this a bit more convenient. You see, it's enchanted to hold much more than an ordinary satchel could."

"Oh," I said dully, and watched her place things into the bag.

"Is there anything in your backpacks that you would like to bring along?" she questioned. I spilled the contents of my backpack onto the bed, and took out of the pile a flashlight, my toiletries, a couple of headbands and a hairbrush, and a brand new gag manga that I hadn't gotten around to reading yet. I was about to take my extra set of clothes, but Shymaera stopped me.

"I wouldn't advise bringing your own clothing. I will give you some that will be more suitable for your journey." She scooped the item's I'd selected into one of the satchels, and walked back to the wardrobe. I was quite displeased when she returned with a stack of very plain looking cloth in different shades of brown and dull green, with a few black pieces mixed in.

Shymaera made me take off the terribly uncomfortable dress she'd forced me into earlier, and dressed me in the dull clothes. When she was finished, I looked like I'd come straight out of the Lord of the Rings. In fact, I looked like a very frail hobbit dressed it guy's clothing, with the exception of the boots she'd given me, because I remembered that hobbits tended to go barefoot.

She showed me how to tie the sash around my waist so that the clothes would fit better, since she couldn't find anything in my size. Then she put the rest of the dull-colored things into my satchel. Although she didn't think I should take my other clothing, she let me take my underwear. I was thankful for that.

In short, I spent the rest of the morning with Shymaera, packing things to take on the quest. She strapped a dagger around my waist, and told me it was for emergencies. At one point we sneaked into the kitchen and got some food to put in the satchels, and I had to admit that was a little bit fun. But for the most part, I was bored out of my mind until around noon, when we finally finished packing and studying a map Shymaera had given me.

Purple-head, with a sword hanging at his waist, and Raven were waiting for us at the stables. Apparently, the fastest way to get around if you didn't have wings was to ride horse-back. But I'd only ever seen horses on TV and in pictures! I didn't know the first thing about horses, let alone could I ride one.

"How did the fencing go?" Shymaera asked.

"He's doing very well for a beginner," Raven said, glancing at Nagihiko with concern. "But honestly, I don't think it will be enough to protect the both of them if they run into anything dangerous."

"He'll get better if he keeps practicing," the faerie nodded, and turned to look at Nagihiko and I. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?"

We both shook our heads.

"Okay. I'll make sure you receive proper instruction."

We walked into the stables, and I was promptly greeted by an unfamiliar smell. I wrinkled my nose and looked about. Heads of horses were hanging out of some stalls, faerie boys ran about carrying out chores, and the dirt floor had bits of straw scattered about it.

"Hey, Chaith, get over here!" Raven yelled, and I winced slightly at her harsh voice. A faerie boy that looked to be about thirteen by human standards came running to us obediently. "Get some horses for the humans."

"Okay," Chaith nodded glumly. "Follow me." Nagihiko and I followed the faerie boy along the lines of stalls, Raven and Shymaera a few steps behind us. "Which one do you want?" he asked, stopping in the middle of the isle.

I observed the horses around me, and pointed to a white one who was holding its large head high, its ears perked upward with an alert expression in its eyes. "I want that one," I stated.

"Really?" Chaith's eyes widened.

"Yes."

"Rima, I don't think that's a good idea," said Shymaera. "Since you've never ridden before, it would be best for you to take a mare, and a calm one at that."

"What about a gelding?" Nagihiko asked. "Wouldn't that be preferable?"

Raven shook her head. "Faeries don't castrate their horses. There are no geldings in this stable."

"Oh," said Nagihiko. "Which horses would you advise would be best for us, having never ridden before?"

"I'll bring out some well-behaved mares," Chaith said, and disappeared around a corner. It was a while before he came back leading two horses. One was a shiny, reddish-brown all over, and the taller was a darker brown with a black main and tail, black legs, and a black nose.

"Brown. How boring," I said.

"Boring? I think they're both gorgeous," said Raven.

"You would," Shymaera rolled her eyes. I ignored them and walked toward the horses.

"This sorrel's for you," Chaith handed me the rope attached to the harness on the reddish-brown horse's head.

"What's its name?"

"She. It's a she," Chaith corrected.

"That's what 'mare' means, Rima-chan," Nagihiko said. I shot a quick glare at him.

"Her name is Firon," said Chaith.

"What's this thing called?" I pointed to the harness on the horses head.

"A halter, but you won't use it to ride," he handed the other rope to Nagihiko. "And that's the lead-rope."

So Purple-head and I received a lesson on tacking up the horses. I only tried to remembered the basics of what everything was called, but Nagihiko seemed like he was putting a lot of effort into memorizing the terms for the different parts of the tack. Of course, that wasn't so important when compared to actually using the horses.

The first mistake I made was in trying to mount Firon on the right side. But after that, I did surprising little wrong compared to Nagihiko. I almost laughed at how bad he was at riding! It seemed so simple to me: sit on the horse, steer with the reigns and your legs, hug with the knees, press to go faster, pull back to slow, keep your heels down, etcetera. Of course, it wasn't quite _that_ simple, but communicating to Firon what I wanted her to do was pretty easy for me. I was beginning to enjoy riding.

On the other hand, Nagihiko's horse, Taithor (who I later learned was considered a 'bay'), didn't seem to like him much. Chaith kept shouting instructions to him: "Keep your heels down!" or "Be careful not to kick her flanks!" I almost laughed at him. It was pretty funny to see Purple-head having this much trouble with something.

Chaith tough us how to position ourselves for different gaits. "Remember, the horse can feel your position. If she's walking, and you start to move as if you're going to trot, she'll take that as a cue to change her gait."

By the end of the lesson, I was relatively comfortable with cantering. Nagihiko, however, was still not doing so well. "Horses can sense fear," Chaith explained. "If you're afraid, the horse will sense that, and think that there's something to be afraid of, which will cause them to also be afraid. You have stay calm."

Nagihiko nodded shakily and took a deep breath. After that, he started doing a little better. It was nearly four o'clock when we finally left Titania's palace and took the road north-east to the next town where we could stay at an inn, and continue our journey the next day.

I didn't speak to Nagihiko at all for almost the whole duration of the ride. When the sun started to set, and we were very close to the town, he finally got fed up with the silence and addressed me.

"You're still mad at me?" he asked in exasperation.

"It was your fault that I took that potion. What if it had been permanent? I could have been stuck with fake emotions for the rest of my life!"

"Rima-chan, love isn't just an emotion."

"Then what is it?" I snapped.

"Well, there are three types of love. The first is brotherly love, which is what you see in family and friends. It's a kind of caring about others that's very special. Then there is romantic love, which comes with caring, friendship, something stronger than friendship, and even lust. And lastly, there is unconditional love," he looked as if he was about to continue, but stopped himself.

"And that is?" I asked. He seemed surprised I was even listening.

"Indescribable," he shook his head. "It's the kind of love you would easily throw your life away for. Kind of like the love a dog has for its owner, but even stronger. It demands nothing in return, and is willing to do anything. It can also be an upgraded version of either of the first two."

"So what's your point?" I asked in a (forced) bored tone. Actually, I was slightly interested.

"Love is more than just a feeling. It's patient, and humble, and persevering, and—"

"You sound really sappy," I interrupted.

"I was just making a point," he sighed.

And after that, we went right back to no-speaking terms. Well, it was really a one-sided thing, since he didn't hesitate to talk to me. I simply refused to answer him.

**A/N: Yes, they learned to ride impossibly quickly. But this is a fantasy story, so nobody really cares, right? Actually, I really didn't want to make them stay another day at the castle, so I just decided to move on.**

** This chapter was slow (and short) because it was so incredibly boring to write. I bet it was probably pretty boring to read, too. I'm truly sorry, but this is necessary for the story to move on. The adventure shall begin for real in the next chapter! And, because I just love adventures, it might not take quite so long.**

** Anyway, since it's been ages, why don't you click on that portal stone down there and take a nice little visit to the lovely land of reviews?**

**V**


	12. In Which the Quest Begins

Chapter Twelve:

In Which the Quest Begins

**~In Japan (nighttime)~**

"Hey, Yaya," Amu said glumly into her cellphone as she plopped onto her bed. "Did you find anything?"

"Yaya didn't find anything remotely interesting at all!" wailed the immature girl. Amu briefly wondered where Yaya had learned a word like 'remotely', but didn't inquire about it. "What about Iku-kun?"

"Um... I haven't talked to Ikuto yet," she replied somewhat nervously. As if on cue, a knocking sounded on her screen door. Amu got up and let Ikuto in. "Did _you_ find anything?"

"Actually," he began. Amu pushed the speaker button on her phone so Yaya could hear. "It turns out that a few days ago, Rima and Nagihiko were seen in the park. That's the last anyone has seen of them."

"Who saw them?" asked Yaya.

"Sources who wish to remain anonymous," Ikuto said, sitting on Amu's bed. Amu was so absorbed in processing the information she'd just received that she didn't even mind.

"What were they doing?" Amu asked eagerly.

"Sitting on a bench, talking."

"I wonder what they were talking about," Yaya mused.

"That's all? They were just talking?" prodded Amu.

"It was rather strange. They were talking, and Rima seemed to be mad at Nagihiko. Then they kissed, and she started crying. The anonymous source left at that point."

"Wow!" Yaya exclaimed. "That's amazing, Iku-kun! How'd you get all this information?"

"My little sister," he said blankly.

"Why was she in the park?" asked Yaya.

"Yaya, that's not our business," Amu scolded.

"She was there with Kukai after a ramen contest," Ikuto answered. "They decided to spy on them."

"I thought you said your sources wished to remain anonymous," said Amu disapprovingly.

"Yeah, but Yaya doesn't know what 'anonymous' means, anyway," he snickered.

"Yaya's confused!"

"Nevermind," Amu sighed. "We have to find where Rima and Nagi went. And if they kissed, then my theory about them eloping must be right!"

"Do you seriously think that?" Ikuto flicked Amu's forehead.

"Hey!" she rubbed the abused spot.

"Yaya believes it!"

"Of course _you_ would. But if you want to find out what really happened to them, I'd suggest doing some more research. Although it's _possible_ that they could have eloped, it's highly unlikely."

"Then what do you think happened to them?" Amu snapped.

"I think they went somewhere, probably together, but it had some purpose other than eloping."

"There's obviously something going on between them."

"Yes, but it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic," Ikuto pointed out.

A thoughtful silence ensued, until Yaya got bored.

"What are we going to do about it?" she yelled.

"I have an idea," Ikuto said. "But I don't think you're going to like it, Amu. Yaya, on the other hand, will probably love it."

"What is it?" the excited girl exclaimed.

"We're going to have an adventure."

"Yaya loves adventures!"

**~Rima's POV~**

Eventually, the road veered slightly to the right, and we emerged from the treeline we'd been traveling behind all afternoon. I could see some buildings not far off, and I was pretty sure that it was the town where we would be staying the night.

The town was really small, and all the buildings were made of logs, which made sense since it was right at the edge of the forest. Some of the houses had paddocks next to them with horses, and an occasional cow.

The inn was one of the biggest buildings, being three stories high, with a long front porch. The stables were right next to it. We stopped and dismounted, tying Firon and Taithor to the posts in front of the inn. I took a few steps toward the stairs that led up to the porch, and nearly collapsed in pain.

"Owww!" I yelled.

"What's wrong, Rima-chan?" stupid Purple-head asked me with his stupid kind eyes.

"What's _wrong?_" I exclaimed. "My legs are on fire!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, clearly confused.

"How come you're not suffering?" I kicked the ground in frustration.

"Should I be?"

"My legs are sore! Sorer than I've ever been in my life!"

"Well, you wouldn't have been sore much before because you never indulge in physical activity."

"Shut up!" I screamed. "Why aren't you hurt?"

"Probably because I do lots of stretches for my dancing," he answered innocently.

"ERRG!" I clenched my fists and stomped my foot over and over and over.

"Rima-chan, calm down. It's okay. The soreness will go away in a few days, I'm sure."

"I'm never getting on that horse again!"

"But if you keep riding, it probably will stop hurting."

I ignored him and limped up the steps, cringing every time I moved my legs. Purple-head followed me, and opened the door. Glaring at him, I walked in and looked around the room. Large, round wooden tables were set around the room, and there were some people sitting around a few of them, eating or drinking. I was thankful to see that they were mostly humans.

A woman wearing a plain brown dress and apron came up to us. Her face was broad, and her mouse-brown hair was pulled into a tight bun. "What can I get for you?" she said in a thick German accent.

"We would like a room with two beds," Nagihiko said.

The lady stared at him for a moment, then shifted her gaze to me. Before I could tell what was happening, she had pulled me into a tight embrace, exclaiming about how cute I was. I couldn't see anything because my face was burred in her chest, and her grip was like iron, but I could have sworn I'd heard Nagihiko chuckle. Stupid Fujisaki! Couldn't he see I was about to suffocate?

Finally, the lady let go of me, and I gasped to regain all the air she'd pressed out of me.

"So why are you two here? Are you eloping?" her eyes got all big and sparkly.

I was still too stunned to say anything.

"Er... no. We're on a quest," Nagihiko answered.

"Oh, I see! Heroes! How nice! I'll get you some dinner and draw your baths," she said excitedly. "Please sit while you wait." She practically skipped off.

We took a seat at an empty table, and I folded my arms and rested my head on them. I was hungry and tired and sore and wanted nothing more than to take a bath and go to sleep. The lady came back with two plates of food, and set them in front of us. I didn't really care that the bread was green, or that the cheese was pink, or even that the strange fruit had blue and red stripes. She also brought us some glasses with a pitcher of water, which I was equally as grateful for. Nagihiko, however, picked at his food far less enthusiastically. In fact, I was slightly concerned, considering that neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast, and he'd been training for quite some time. What would I do if he got sick? We might not be able to travel, and then we'd never break the curses!

"Please tell me you're not getting sick," I said.

He was silent for a while. I set down slice of green bread I'd been eating, and eyed him warily.

"Thanks."

"For what?" I was taken aback.

"For speaking to me," he smiled weakly, and finally began to eat, although he looked like he was forcing himself not to gag on the food.

"Do you not like the food?" I asked, personally thinking it tasted pretty good for such a simple meal.

"It's not that," he replied. "Just... don't you find it slightly unnerving for your food to be so... colorful?"

"..."

"..."

"No."

"But-"

"Just finish eating!" I commanded, and went back to consuming my own dinner.

**~Back in Japan~**

"Ikuto, what are we doing?" Amu asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"I told you already," said the catboy, "We're looking for clues."

"Then why do we have to wear all black?" she gestured to the black clothing she and Yaya had put on. Ikuto, of course, had not required a change of clothes.

"Ask Yaya," he shrugged.

"Yaya thinks we should wear dark clothing to blend in with the nighttime surroundings," Yaya said smugly, proud of herself for thinking up such a 'great idea.'

"Fine. Whatever."

"Okay, let's go," Ikuto said, opening the door to Amu's bedroom. Yaya led the way, inching along the walls and glancing about warily. The pinkette sighed.

"Yaya, if you slide around the walls like that someone on the other side is going to hear you."

"Oh," Yaya said, and moved away from the wall, tiptoeing down the stairs and to the door, trailing Ikuto and Amu behind her.

They stepped onto the darkened street.

**~Rima's POV~**

It felt heavenly to have a bath after all that I'd been through. After being chased by goblins, getting lost in a network of alleyways, running for my life, and riding horseback for hours on end, I was really dirty. My hair took a long time to work into a lather, and I could feel the dirt coming off my face. The hot water was soothing to my sore muscles. I could honestly say that I'd never been in such a condition before. But At least no one had commanded me to do much of anything lately. That is, with the exception of finding the cure for Oberon, King of the Faeries.

Overall, the innkeeper lady seemed to be pretty nice. She offered to wash our clothes for us, and got us a room that had (thankfully) two beds. And she didn't charge very much for it all, either. It turns out they use British Pounds here, something I was surprised to learn. And Nagihiko still had all the money we'd exchanged when we got to London, so it seemed like we would have no problem as far as that went.

Things were finally looking up. At least, that's what I thought as I finished my bath. When I got out, I noticed the water was two shades darker, and cringed at the thought of how dirty I had been. Little did I know that my situation was just about to turn in the same direction: two shades darker.

I dried myself and dressed in a new set of clothing, wrapping my hair in a towel. Walking up the stairs, I made my way to the room the innkeeper had prepared for us. While waiting for Nagihiko to finish his bath, I sat down on one of the beds and opened my satchel, taking out the map Shymaera gave me.

The path between here and Erayu, where we would find the Agara Tree, was agonizingly long when compared to the distance we'd traveled today. I was ready to give up hope right then and there had it not been that I couldn't back out of this quest because Titania had demanded it. My curse bound me to it. It looked like we would have to go through the forest, and over a steep mountain range. The valley where we would find the Agara Tree was somewhere on the other side of the tallest mountain.

I looked out the window, which had a view of the forest not far off. Over the edge of the trees, I could see the very tip of a giant mountain far in the distance. Sighing, I dragged my eyes back to the place on the map that marked the town we were now in. Someone had circled the location in red ink.

Suddenly, I wished that I had been paying more attention when Shymaera was telling me the locations where we would run into danger. She had circled them all in red, but I hadn't taken a second glance at the map until now. What had Shymaera said the danger would be? Frantically, I racked my brain. Was there some sort of creature that would come and devour us in the middle of the night?

The door opened, and I jumped at the noise only to find it was just Nagihiko. He was now wearing a dull green tunic similar to mine, and his hair was also wet. I ran past him and slammed the door shut, sitting against it to ensure that is stayed closed.

"Fujisaki, are the windows locked?" I asked in a panic. He gave me a strange look.

"Rima-chan, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine! Just lock the windows!" I almost shouted, then realized that someone might hear and become suspicious. "Make sure the windows are locked," I lowered my voice. Turning I round, I tried to lock the door, only to find that there was no lock.

"Okay, if you say so," he walked to the window and fiddled with it. "There isn't a lock here, Rima-chan," he said, sounding annoyed.

"Then do something about! Jam it! I don't care! Just make sure that no one can open it from the outside!"

"Why?" He turned to me and crossed his arms. "You're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not. We have to make sure that no one can get in."

"Why?" he repeated.

"Because Shymaera marked all the spots on the map she gave me where we would face dangerous creatures. This is one of them. I didn't realize it until just now."

"What kind of dangerous creatures?"

"I don't know. That's why we have to lock the doors and windows. It might be something that wants to eat us!"

Nagihiko picked up his sword, which was laying on the ground next to his satchel. "I'll keep this within reach, if it makes you feel better."

"Not much," I replied, thinking about the dagger that was strapped to my waist, hidden by the folds of my large clothing. Neither of us were skilled with such things, even if Nagihiko had used a naginata in the past.

Nagihiko began pushing one of the beds across the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, since the door doesn't have a lock, we can barricade it. I sleep on this bed, and then if anyone tries to get in, I'll hear them."

I had to admit, it was a pretty good idea. I nodded.

"What about the window?"

"I'll deal with that in a minute," he said as he finished pushing the bed against the door. Next he began searching the floor, while I watched in confusion. After a while, he found a pebble and picked it up, holding it victoriously.

"Oh, bravo, a pebble!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. "And what do you plan to do with that magnificent pebble of yours?"

"Watch," he said, and shoved it into the gap between the window and the part it slides on. When he tried to open the window, it wouldn't budge. Nagihiko smiled.

"Oh," I said a little sheepishly.

"There. Now no monsters will get in," he said, making it sound as if I were little kid who'd just asked her mommy to make sure the boogieman couldn't get into her bedroom.

I crossed my arms and turned away, silently fuming.

"Alright, Rima-chan, lights out," said stupid Purple-head, still in that annoying tone. I climbed into my bed and gave him one final glare before he turned off the kerosine lamp that was glowing in the corner.

I slept soundly, and woke to the sound of birds chirping in the forest. Light was flowing in from the window, and everything was just as it had been the night before. I sighed in relief.

"Fujisaki, wake up!" I said loudly, startling Purple-head awake. He sat up and looked around, and I thought I saw him also sigh in relief.

"See, Rima-chan, there was nothing to worry about," he smirked. I glared and stuck my tongue out.

"There could have been. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

After packing our things back in our satchels, we headed down the stairs and sat at one of tables, waiting for breakfast. Strangely, we were the only people there. All the other tables were empty, and the innkeeper came towards carrying two plates filled with all sorts of good-looking dishes. I was happy to see scrambled eggs and sausage. Nagihiko looked even more pleased than I did.

It took us a matter of minutes to finish our breakfast, and then we left our plates where they were and walked toward the door of the inn. Nagihiko was just about to open it when the innkeeper jumped in front of us.

"Where do you think you're going?" she hissed. Her German accent had disappeared, and I thought I saw a forked tongue flick out of her mouth. Gulping, I stepped back, fingering my dagger. Nagihiko also put a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"We were just going to get our horses," he said.

"But I haven't eaten you yet," the innkeeper replied. Suddenly, her body began to grow and her feet vanished. Her legs melted together and elongated until all that was left was the long, scaly tail of a snake. Fangs tore their way out of her gums as all of her teeth fell to the floor. "My twue fowm!" she lisped, and stretched her hands toward Nagihiko in a grabbing motion.

Drawing his sword, he jumped backward. "She's a lamia!" he exclaimed.

**~Back in Japan~**

"How is this going to help us find them?" Amu asked as she, Ikuto, and Yaya all stood outside the Mashiro residence.

"Just watch," Ikuto said, picking Amu up princess-style.

"Hey! Let me down!"

"Shush!" Yaya exclaimed. "We can't let anyone know we're here."

"She's right. I'm pretty sure this is illegal," agreed Ikuto, and then he jumped right into the open window of Rima's bedroom.

"Why did she leave her window open?" Amu whispered as the catboy set her down.

"I don't know. Stay here, I'll go get Yaya," Ikuto jumped back out the window and came back with Yaya on his back. Yaya promptly took out a flashlight and began searching the room, while Ikuto turned on the computer sitting on a desk against one wall. "What's her password?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Amu said quietly.

"You're her best friend, right?"

"Y-yeah..."

"So what is it?"

"***********," she mumbled. Ikuto typed it in, and pressed enter. The computer finished starting up, and they were greeted by the familiar pose of Bala-Balance on the wallpaper. Ikuto chuckled as he opened up the internet.

"History," he mumbled. "It looks like she did a Google search on faerie godmothers, curses, blessings, and a bunch of other stuff. Most of it is about how to break curses."

"What does that tell us?" Amu asked.

"She was trying to break a curse."

"But curses are only in fairy tales!"

"Yes. But maybe Rima doesn't believe that," Ikuto put out.

"Do you think she was getting Nagi to help her break the curse?"

"Maybe. It would make sense."

"How would that make sense?" Amu snapped.

"Put the pieces together. Rima thinks she has a curse. You think there may have been something going on between her and Nagihiko. What's the traditional way to break curses? What were they seen doing in the park?"

Amu looked at the floor thoughtfully. It took a while for her to get it. "You mean—oh! I see!"

"What?" Yaya asked, popping up behind them.

"From Rima's search history on her computer, it seems she was trying to break a curse," Ikuto explained. "We think since the traditional way to break a curse is a kiss, and she may have romantic feelings towards Nagihiko, she could have gone to him to help her break the curse. They were seen kissing in the park. Rima could have been crying afterward because she didn't think it worked."

"Oh!" Yaya said. "I wonder what Rima thinks she's cursed with?"

"I don't think that matters that much," Amu stated.

"Well, Yaya found that Rima's room is very messy. Over there, she piled several different suitcases and other such bags. Maybe she was looking for a bad to take when she eloped, and rejected those?"

"I thought we were assuming at this point that they didn't elope," Amu corrected.

"Whatever. Anyway, Yaya also found scattered gag manga and clothing."

"Which tells us nothing," Ikuto said.

"And Yaya found some printed papers about faerie godmothers and curses."

"It looks like we're going to have to check Nagihiko's house, too," Ikuto said, shutting down Rima's computer. "No sense wasting any more time. Let's go."

As they walked toward the window, Yaya tripped on a stray gag manga, and fell, causing a loud thump.

"Crap," Amu said, and turned to glance at the door. "We have to hurry."

At that moment, a slit of light slid in from a crack between the door and the wall. The door swung all the way open, and standing in the hallway, looking into the room, was Rima's mother.

**A/N: I know that the scenario at the inn has been used in books multiple times before, but I wanted to put that in there really badly, so I changed it around some.**

** Anyway, I want to apologize in advance to all the fans of Puck reading this. I might beat him up a little bit, and he will be competing against Nagihiko and Rima for the cure to Oberon's illness, so in a way, he'll be a villain.**

** And after the next chapter, you probably won't be seeing much of Yaya, Amu and Ikuto.**

** Oh, and I stand corrected. The magical land of reviews would technically be the place where you can see all the reviews people have given. So instead, why don't you click on the portal stone that will take you to the place where you can contribute to the wonderful land of reviews? Then you'll be part of it, and an even bigger part of it if you've reviewed in the past.**


	13. In Which Rima and Nagihiko Become Sick

**A/N: Hello there, dear reader! It's been a while, now hasn't it? Actually, this is the longest break I've ever taken from fanfiction. However, I can promise things will be better as soon as the ski season is over, and it doesn't look like it'll last much longer with all the lovely warm weather we've been having here in Idaho. I'm lucky to have a seasonal job!**

Chapter Thirteen:

In Which Rima and Nagihiko Become Quite Sick

I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything quite as frightening as finished breakfast just to have the innkeeper turn into a lamia and declare that she wanted to eat me. In fact, I was so terrified that all I could do was just stand there wide-eyed with my mouth hanging open.

It was several minutes before I came to my senses. At this point, Nagihiko had only managed to scrape off a few of the lamia's scales, and he was looking pretty tired. I reached for my dagger, but realized there wasn't really anything I could do about the situation.

The lamia's tail whipped around and slammed into Nagihiko's back. He was knocked to the ground, his sword clattering a few feet out of his reach. Well, at least I could help out now. Running to the sword, I picked it up and gave it to him, pulling him to his feet. Why was I trying to help Purple-head of all people? Because if I didn't, I would surely die.

I felt something tight around my waist, and suddenly, I was lifted into the air. The lamia's grip was harsh and choking, and I could barely move. Flailing my feet in the air, I screamed, although I doubt it really did any good.

"Wet me eat hewr and I'w wet you go," said the lamia. Spit flew from her mouth as she spoke. "Thee wooks tathtier anyway." Her big, ugly, snake-like eyes gazed at me hungry.

"Purple-head! Do something!" I yelled. He did.

Nagihiko took advantage of the lamia's full hands and ran straight toward her, his sword in front of him. The blade sunk into her scaly skin, and she screamed and torrents of blood began gushing out. Nagihiko jerked his sword back, causing the wound to enlarge. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the disgusting sight, but I couldn't block out the lamia's horrendous wail. She dropped me, and I thankfully wasn't hurt in the landing.

Whatever Nagihiko had hit with that sword must have been vital, because the lamia's eyes soon rolled back in her head and she lay lifeless on the wood floor, the puddle of blood growing slowly beneath her.

Nagihiko held his dirty sword awkwardly, as if he weren't sure what to do with it. We were both shaking from the shock and fright of it all.

"That was... awful," I managed. He simply nodded in reply, still staring at the dead lamia.

"I've never killed anything before."

"If you hadn't, we would both be dead, so don't sulk over it," I said.

"Yeah," he nodded again, looking determined.

"I think you got splattered," I pointed to his back where some blood was on his tunic. But I knew what I said wasn't the truth. Nagihiko had been facing forward when the lamia started spurting blood.

"What?" he reached his hand around and felt the spot where the blood was seeping through and winced. "No, that's me. Her tail cut me when she hit me with it. I had better wash it out before we leave so it won't get infected."

But, of course, that was difficult to do considering it was on his back. So I ended up getting out the small first-aid kit in his satchel and bandaging the wound. It really wasn't that big of a cut, anyway.

We headed to the stable next to the inn, where the horses had been placed the night before. They had been fed, and groomed, and all we had to do was tack them up before we left.

It took about a half an hour to get all our tack properly situated on the horses. When we finally did, Nagihiko cupped his hands to give me a boost like he'd been taught. But it seemed as if he had the horses mixed up.

"What are you doing?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"You're riding Taithor," he stated, as if he had any right to switch our horses.

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't like me."

"No, you're just bad at riding," I said.

"If that's the truth, then you can say 'I told you so'. But you have to at least let my try this. Maybe Firon will like me better."

"I doubt it."

"If I'm wrong, you can say 'I told you so'. Now lets go."

"Deal," I placed my boot in his hands and he boosted me onto the large bay mare. It took a moment for him to adjust the stirrups on both saddles, but soon we were heading towards the woods again, riding along the dirt road.

**~In Japan~**

"What's going on in here?" asked Rima's mother, turning on the light.

Amu gulped.

"H-hello, M-Mashiro-san," she managed.

"Oh! Amu-chan and Yaya-chan!" Mrs. Mashiro smiled at them, then pointed a finger at Ikuto. "Who's he? I don't think I've ever seen him before."

"I'm Amu's boyfriend," Ikuto said in a bored tone. Amu was about to protest, but suddenly thought better of it and shut her mouth, settling for a deep blush.

"What are you three doing here?"

"Umm... Rima-chi told us that... um..." Yaya began.

"She left her summer homework here," Ikuto jumped in. "And since we're all going over to Fujisaki's to study, she asked if we could bring it to her."

"But why so late at night?"

"Well... Because..." Amu stumbled, "She didn't remember it until now! Or... fifteen minutes ago!"

"Oh, okay," Mrs. Mashiro said cheerily. "Well, while you're here, why don't you have some tea?"

"No, thanks," said Ikuto.

"Oh, but I insist."

"We really do need to get going," Amu said.

"It's past Yaya's bedtime!"

"You _must_ have some tea. It's so lonely here without Rima, and I don't have anyone to talk to. Please stay awhile."

Their excuses were useless. It was well over two hours before the trio was able to leave the Mashiro residence.

**~Rima's POV~**

We'd been riding for several hours and neither of us had spoken much. The soreness from yesterday didn't seem so bad when I was riding, and it was a pleasant journey through the woods. Part way through, Nagihiko had decided that I'd been right about the horses, and we switched again. Taithor wasn't happy, but Firon was delighted to have me back. After that, the silence continued for about four miles. I pondered what Nagihiko had said yesterday about love.

"Purple-head?" I asked, not looking at him.

"Yes, Rima-chan?"

"What is love... exactly?" I glanced at him, just to see his reaction.

He looked stunned. Taithor plodded on, unfazed, but if we had been on foot, I know he would have stopped dead in his tracks.

"Stop looking so stupefied. I just asked a question."

Nagihiko shook his head and stared at the black main of his mare, twirling a piece of it around in his fingers. "I guess... it's a word."

"What?" It was my turn to look baffled.

"Just an overused word. 'I love oranges,' or 'I love to do cartwheels,' or..."

"You can do cartwheels?" I cocked my head to the side.

"It's just an example," he said. "The point is, it's thrown around so much, and people use it even when they don't mean it. Someone might say 'I'm in love,' when in reality, it's just a fancy they have for another person."

"But what is it?" I repeated myself, aggravation creeping into my voice.

"I can't really explain that, Rima-chan," Purple-head sighed.

"Why not? You seem to be the expert on the subject!"

"Because I've never been in love, so I wouldn't know," he replied.

"But how would you know if you were to really fall in love, then?" I asked.

"It would be different. Most people have had crushes, and they would be able to tell the difference. But I suppose you would really know when you care more about that person than about yourself; when their happiness means everything in the word."

"You really are a sap," I scoffed.

"Hey, you're the one that asked. I was just answering your question. So now you owe me an answer in return, right?"

"Sure," I waved my hand dismissively.

"Why do you want to know?"

"..."

"Well?"

"Um..." I looked the other way, a blush creeping onto my cheeks despite myself. "Actually... I was just curious."

"Okay," he let it go.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

A while later, we stopped for lunch. After tying the horses to a tree, I took out some of the food Shymaera had packed and divided it. It was a rather pathetic lunch.

It was just after we had finished eating that Rima got mad at me. I don't even remember what it was about, besides that it was petty. She ended up stomping away into the trees, and when she didn't come back ten minutes later, I figured something was wrong, and went to find her.

"Rima! Rima-chan, where are you?"

There was no response as I called to Rima over and over again. Frantically, I ran through the forest, looking about and darting this way and that. I ducked under branches and hopped over fallen logs and wound around large trees. There was no sight of her. Eventually, I stopped where I was and just listened. She couldn't be completely silent, and if she were anywhere near, I might be able to hear her footsteps or something.

Nothing.

I sighed and began my search again. Lots of things could happen to someone as small as Rima in a forest like this. She could meet up with a bear, or a wolf. And since this was a magical land, maybe something even worse than that! What if she ran into a pack of hungry goblins? Did goblins eat people? I wasn't sure, but I thought it was possible. Or even worse, what if she found a _dragon_? That would be the end of her for sure.

I bit my lip and shook my head. _No, no!_ I had to get rid of those thoughts. My imagination was taking over my mind. _Rima will be fine,_ I told myself, although I knew that it was possible that she _wouldn't_ be fine.

Before I knew it, I stumbled into a giant clearing. A lively Celtic tune filled the meadow, although it was unclear where it was coming from. In the middle was giant circle of fairies, and they were all holding hands and dancing.

Fairies of all shapes and sizes, tall ones, short ones, male and female, some with long hair, others with short hair, but all beautiful. Much of their clothing seemed to be made of things that were not meant to be clothing: giant leaves and flower petals, cloth that looked as if it were woven from moonbeams, and sheer fabrics that appeared to be made of spider's silk. None of them wore shoes, and their clothing rarely had sleeves and never came past their knees. The backs of their garments swooped low, giving plenty of room for their shimmering wings.

And dancing among the fairies, smiling and giggling, was Rima. She looked like she belonged with them, her golden curls bouncing about her head as she danced, and her angelic face looking so happy. _She'd make a wonderful fairy_, I thought, _She fits right in with them._

The oddest sensation crept over me, and I found myself longing to join the dance. I began walking closer to the ring, preparing to catch Rima and drag her away from the dance so we could continue our quest. But as I did, one of the fairies let go of the hand of the one next to her and held it out to me. She smiled at me. Her smile was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Rima's, with tiny creases appearing at the corner of the fairies eyes. She looked so friendly and inviting...

The fairy seemed to be calling to me, somehow, without words, "Come, dance with us! Dance to your heart's content." She beckoned me to come closer, and I took a step forward. Before I knew it, I had taken the fairy's hand, and was dancing with the fairies.

It was like nothing I've ever felt before —to dance with the fairies. It was so much better than any dance I had ever performed, and it reminded my why I loved dancing. I found myself smiling and laughing just like Rima. The fairies smiled and laughed, too, like there was absolutely nothing wrong in the world. Like curses didn't exist, and the whole thing was all just a dream, and all that truly mattered was dancing... dancing... dancing with the fairies.

How long had it been since we started dancing? I had no idea. The same lively Celtic music kept playing on, and on, and on, never changing, but always fresh. My legs were beginning to grow weary, but I ignored them. What did it matter? Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered at all anymore.

My stomach was beginning to do flip-flops, and I felt like I would need to be sick. Trying my best to disregard this, I noticed a pain in my head. I was getting dizzy, and my head hurt... My eyes were drooping shut, and I forced them open, still smiling, still dancing, still not caring about any pain or sadness or even curses.

I felt sick—really, really sick. But I couldn't stop dancing, even if I had wanted to. I tried to let go of the hands of the fairies on either side of me, but they held on tightly, still smiling, almost as if they hadn't noticed. I saw a hint of annoyance flash across the face of the fairy on my right, who had invited me into the circle in the first place.

Something was wrong. Why couldn't I stop dancing? I just needed a little break, and then I could come right back. My stomach just wasn't feeling well. If I took a break, I would feel better and then I could keep dancing, and dancing. But the fairies wouldn't let me go. I couldn't break free of their grips.

Suddenly, a harsh force knocked into me, and I felt the grip of both fairies loosen. In fact, their hands both fell away, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground next to the ring of dancing fairies. The impact had been hard, and the side I landed on felt somewhat sore, but I ignored it and sat up. A noxious feeling gripped my head and stomach, and I knew I was going to be sick.

I leaned over as lunch came back up in a most unpleasant way. At least when it was over I felt a lot better. Standing up, I looked around to see what had knocked me out of the ring. Standing a few feet away was a funny creature with a familiar face.

"Hey! Ramihiko!" said Ardi as if he were about to give me an order.

"It's Nagihiko," I corrected him before he could continue.

"Yeah, whatever," Ardi rolled his eyes, "You owe me for that one."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"That was a fairy ring. I can't believe you were stupid enough to fall into it."

"Why? Is it dangerous?" I wasn't particularly offended by his last comment.

"Yes!" he looked really annoyed. "You don't know what happens in a fairy ring, do you?"

I shook my head.

"They dance," he said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Of course, I-"

"Shh, you didn't let me finish," Ardi stopped me. "Once you start to dance in a fairy ring, you will _never_, and I mean _ever,_ be able to stop. They'll dance and dance and you won't notice how much time has gone by at all," he pointed to the sky, which I noticed was turning darker as the sun began to sink, "and then they'll dance you to death. There's no way anyone can get out of a fairy ring on their own. The only way is if someone else pulls them out."

My eyes widened, "Is Rima still dancing?"

"Aw, not the short one, too!" Ardi groaned. "_She_'s dancing in there?"

I nodded.

"Then she needs you to save her. Go get her before she becomes even more sick than she is now," Ardi said, turning to leave. "Oh, and by the way, you owe me three jars of peanut butter."

Once again, I nodded and then I began to run around the ring of fairies, searching for Rima. Every time I saw a flash of golden hair, I would stop, only to find that it was yet another fairy. There must have been over a hundred fairies dancing in the ring. It was huge! And that made it harder to find Rima.

When I finally found her, she was still smiling, but her face was turning an unhealthy green.

"Rima!" I called, reaching my hand out to her. I grabbed her arm and pulled, but the fairy next to her refused to let go. I tried pulling her other arm, but that didn't work, either. Slamming myself into her as if this were a game of Red-Rover, I managed to knock her loose from the circle. But now we were in the middle.

The middle of the faerie ring was not like one would have expected: an open space in the middle of a meadow, with grass and a few dandelions. It was like a dream. There seemed to be less faeries dancing around us—only a few, in fact. I saw the scolding face of my mother, the kind face of my housekeeper, the other guardians, Tsukasa, the Tsukiyomis, and others from Easter, Hikaru, Nobuka-sensei, and others. They were all dancing around Rima and I. The Celtic music twisted, and I heard laughter, the screams of X-eggs, Japanese music, and numerous voices muttering incoherently. I felt like Frodo, having just placed the Ring on my finger, except decidedly more creepy because _this_ was entirely real.

Grabbing Rima's wrist, I dove out of the center of the ring, and the two of us rolled onto the grass a few feet away from the dancing faeries.

Everything was back to normal.

Rima crawled upright and leaned over, looking very, very sick. I sat up and pulled her hair back as she hurled on the grass.

"That was awful," she gasped, trying to stand up, but obviously having trouble. I just nodded, and helped her to her feet.

It was nearly dark already.

"Now we have to find our way back to the horses," I said, looking about and locating the spot where I had entered the clearing. We headed back in silence.

"Hey, Nagihiko?" Rima asked when we were half-way there.

"Yeah?"

"Th-thanks."

**PLEASE READ:**

**I posted a reference guide on my profile, in case you guys ever forget something about the story. For example, you might be reading this and thinking, "Thaithor? Firon? What the heck?" Well, you can just click on my profile and scroll to the bottom, and there will be a handy-dandy little reference guide that will remind you about any of those kind of things. If you read it and think of anything else that should be on there, go ahead and PM me, or tell me in a review!**

**Also, there's something I want to clear up about the story here. A lot of people have made comments that make it seem like this hasn't been portrayed correctly, so I'm going to state it:**

**At THIS point, Rima and Nagihiko are NOT in love.**

**Nagihiko only has a crush on Rima, and he realizes that.**

**Rima simply dislikes Nagihiko, she doesn't hate him, and she doesn't like him.**

**I can promise you their relationship WILL grow.**

**Anyway, I hope to update again soon, and I'm truly sorry for the wait.**

**Please leave a review!**


	14. In Which They Discover Part of the Truth

**Hello, there, readers! Well, I'm not working anymore. Hurray! I'm so lucky to have a seasonal job. Anyway, I have weekends back, which means I can write.**

Chapter Fourteen

In Which Amu, Ikuto and Yaya Discover Part of the Truth

**~Rima's POV~**

The horses were eating the moss off the ground when we finally got back to the place where we left them. They didn't even raise their heads. I was slightly insulted.

"I don't know about you, but I don't feel like eating any dinner," Nagihiko said. I just shook my head.

We set up 'camp', which was nothing more than a small fire and a place for each of us to sleep. It didn't take long before both of us were out like lights.

**~In Japan~**

Amu, Ikuto and Yaya walked slowly toward the Fujisaki mansion. Yaya was humming a happy tune until Ikuto flicked her forehead, and she shrank back, silenced.

When the trio arrived at the Fujisaki mansion, Amu and Yaya were nearly asleep.

"How are we going to get in?" Ikuto mused, looking at the large wall in front of the house.

"We could climb over," Yaya suggested sleepily.

"Don't you think they'd have a security system?" Ikuto put out.

"They don't," said Amu.

"Okay, then this is what we'll do," Ikuto began, shaking Amu slightly. "You two have to wake up, first. I'll give Yaya a boost on top of the wall, and then I'll jump up with Amu."

"No you won't!" Amu exclaimed, suddenly looking a lot more alert.

"Okay, Yaya, up you go," said Ikuto, cupping his hands for Yaya to step in.

"Yaya's so excited," Yaya yawned. "Yaya gets to climb over a wall!"

Ikuto pushed her until she could was high enough to pull herself onto the wall. Then he picked up a complaining Amu and jumped up.

"Yaya feels like a ninja!"

"Why don't you scout ahead of us, then, Yaya?" Ikuto said. "That way we'll know to hide if anyone is coming."

"It's like four in the morning," said Amu. "Who the heck would be wandering about out here at a time like this?"

"Dogs, possibly," he replied, shuddering.

"The Fujisakis don't have any dogs," Amu said..

They walked toward the house in silence.

"That's Nagi's bedroom up there," said Amu, pointing to a window above them. It was the type of window that opened onto the roof, so that you could climb out the window and sit there.

Ikuto jumped onto the roof and checked the window to find that it was unlocked. He helped the girls up and they went through the window, into Nagihiko's room.

Yaya turned on a lamp, and Amu started up the computer. Ikuto snooped around for other evidence.

"Amu-chii! Look at this!" Yaya exclaimed, pulling a beautiful kimono out of the closet. Amu glanced at it briefly, but was too busy to think about it. Yaya held the kimono up to herself in front of the mirror hanging on the door, admiring the elegant garment.

"I found something," Amu said, standing up and pointing to the computer screen. Ikuto peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

"It looks like Nagihiko bought two plane tickets," Ikuto stated, catching Yaya's attention. She let the kimono drop to the floor in a heap and bounced to the computer.

"London?" Amu's eyebrows creased. "Why would they want to go to London?"

"Rima-tan and Nagi eloped!" sang Yaya.

"That's what all the evidence seems to conclude," Ikuto nodded.

"But what would possess them to elope in the first place? It's not as if anyone would have objected to them being together. And why London?" Amu asked again.

"How would I know?" Ikuto complained. "You know them better than I do."

"What are we going to do about it?" Yaya questioned.

"I don't see anything we _can_ do about it," Amu said.

"Sure we can," Ikuto countered.

"What?" Amu looked at him expectantly.

"We can go to London."

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

I blinked and covered my face with my hands, hiding from the early-morning light glowing through the trees and brightening their leaves around the edges. Rubbing the grit from my eyes, I sat up and remembered where I was.

A trickle of smoke lifted from the campfire that had smoldered and burned out during the night. On the other side of the ashes and blackened pieces of wood was Rima, laying on a blanket and using her satchel as a pillow, just as I had done.

The morning sun was shining on her golden tresses and lighting up her angelic face. I took a sharp breath and felt a strange, but not unpleasant, twinging sensation in my chest. I didn't want to wake her, but I knew we had little time to loose.

Apparently, Rima had a horrid night's sleep. I couldn't blame her, seeing as mine probably wasn't much better, having both slept on the ground. She was really grumpy and angry with me for making her get up. She kept glaring at me as we ate our meager breakfast, and refused to speak to me.

The horses seemed alert, having had time to rest, and we resumed our journey quickly. We started off at a brisk trot, and I managed to stay on Taithor's back quite nicely. The forest was beautiful with all the trees lit up from the sunlight, and the cool air smelled of pines and damp ground.

Rima and Firon rode a few yards ahead of me until we slowed to a walk. I watched Rima as she rode, her hair moving slightly with the mild breeze that swept through the trees. She looked so beautiful I had a hard time not staring. I don't think I succeeded, either. After a while, she looked at me with a hard, questioning expression.

"What?"

"Huh?" I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to erase the image. "Nothing."

"Do I have something in my hair?" she placed her hand on her head, checking for a twig or something.

"No. You don't. I told you it was nothing," I insisted.

"Then why were you staring at me?"

"I-" I began, but realized I couldn't continue because of my curse.

"So you _were_ staring at me."

I tried to respond, but I couldn't. Telling her I hadn't been staring would be lying, after all. Instead, I just looked away.

About three hours into the ride, Rima spoke up. "Purplehead?"

"Yes?"

"Um..." she was turning red.

"What is it?"

"I really need to use the bathroom," she said, staring at Firon's ears.

"Okay," I said, and stopped Taithor. Rima stopped next to me, but didn't get off.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She glanced around the section of the woods we were in. "Umm..."

"There are some bushes over there," I pointed out. She nodded and dismounted, handing Firon's reigns to me.

"Look that way," she commanded, pointing in the opposite direction of the bushes.

"But you-" I began.

"Just turn that way!" she yelled, and ran off. I waited probably five minutes before she came back, and we carried on with our journey.

We didn't speak much for the rest of the day. We rode through the forest until nightfall, when we set up camp again.

**~In Japan~ **

"We can't go to London!" Amu exclaimed.

"Why not?" Ikuto asked.

"Yaya wants to go to London!"

"Well, first," Amu began, ignoring Yaya, "how are we going to get there? Secondly: what would my parents say? And Yaya's parents, too!"

"Is that all?" Ikuto asked, bored.

"No! I mean, even if we _did_ go, how would we find them? And once we found them, assuming that we _did_ find them, how would we get them to come back? If they eloped, they probably had a good reason."

"Despite the evidence, I'm still doubtful about the whole 'eloping' thing," said Ikuto. "Finding them won't be too hard if you know _how_ to look. As far as your parents, I'm sure we could work something out. And we'd go by plane, of course."

"And where do you propose we get the money for plane tickets?" Amu crossed her arms, taking on her 'cool'n'spicy' attitude.

"Do we or do we not have connections to an idol named Hoshina Utau?"

"Oh..." Amu was at a loss for words.

"Hurray! Yaya's going to get to go to London!"

"Don't get your hopes up," Ikuto warned. "We haven't arranged everything yet."

Yaya's face fell.

"We'd all better get home. I'll talk to Utau tomorrow and see what we can pull off. But as for now, let's get out of here."

They all clambered back out the window and over the wall again. Yaya's house was closer, so that was the first stop. Ikuto walked Amu home from there.

"Aww, c'mon, Amu," Ikuto teased. "I know that deep down you really want to go to London with me, don't you."

"Sh-shut up!" Amu exclaimed, turning away.

"You know I can't see you blushing in the dark?" Ikuto reminded her.

"Oh, right," she turned back, then stopped walking and just stood there, fuming. "I wasn't blushing!"

"Sure you weren't," Ikuto said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along.

They walked in silence for a while, until Amu said, "Call me when you find out what Utau says."

"Call you?" Ikuto raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that? I'll just come to your balcony."

"Baka!" Amu yelled, then cringed at the volume of her own voice. A light in the window of a house they were passing came on.

Ikuto laughed, and Amu stared at him in amazement.

"What?" he asked.

"I've never seen you laugh before," she said, shaking her head. "You're always smirking."

Ikuto didn't reply. Neither of them said anything all the way back to Amu's house.

**~A/N~**

**I know that was short, but I have already written some of the next chapter and I'm going to post it soon. So instead of having one long chapter, I'm giving you two short chapters.**

**Also, I would like to know if you guys want me to put Kutau in this. Also, do you want Utau (and Kukai?) to come with Ikuto, Amu and Yaya when they go to London? I would also like to know how many of you want Yaya along or not. I can't really finish the next chapter until I know who's going to London, so please tell me in a review! Honestly, your input will effect the story.**


	15. In Which They Meet a Goat

**A/N: Just a small warning: this chapter is one of the main reasons this story is rated T**

Chapter Fifteen

In Which Nagihiko Gets Unexpectedly Soaked, and Rima has an Encounter With a Goat

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

Rima was in a decidedly better mood the next day. She was still grumpy, but not nearly as much as she had been yesterday. If it was possible, she also looked even more beautiful. I got butterflies in my stomach almost every time I looked her in the eye.

It was warmer today than it had been yesterday, and there was no breeze. Although it wasn't too particularly hot, it was enough to make the horses and us sweat. Rima complained until I told her to stop, and she had to. However, this only made her even more angry with me, so I told her she could complain again if she wanted. But Rima didn't complain anymore.

We traveled for hours on end yet again, but spoke more this time. I felt happy, although it seemed irrational considering the situation we were in. I found myself truly enjoying the ride, despite the soreness in my legs, my ill-mannered horse, and Rima's less-than-pleasant attitude.

For quite some time, the thickening forest was silent except for the sounds of our horses hooves against the soft ground and the ravens trilling in the trees overhead. An occasional songbird tweeted, and I heard a woodpecker drilling into a tree several times.

When we stopped for lunch, Rima and I sat on the ground and ate. Her eyes widened, and she pointed behind me. I turned and saw something brown moving slowly through some long grass only five yards away. It took a moment to realize I was looking at a doe. A smaller form emerged from the grasses, it's tiny wet nose sniffing the ground. The fawn couldn't have been more than a few weeks old. Its spindly little legs were spread wide, white spots in rows down its back, and its large ears perked, listening alertly. We watched the doe and her fawn until they spotted us and bounded away, lifting their legs high in the air.

I turned back to Rima, whose eyes were shining as she smiled. My breath caught in my throat, and that weird feeling in my chest came back, accompanied by my flip-flopping stomach. I hadn't seen Rima smile in several days. I wished she would smile more often.

"I've never seen anything like that before," she told me.

"It was pretty cool, huh?" I agreed.

After we finished eating, Rima and I mounted our horses and continued riding down the dirt road through the forest.

**~In Japan~**

Ikuto woke late that morning, and Utau had already left the house. There was a note on the table.

_Ikuto-_

_I've gone out. I'm with Kukai, and I won't be back until late. There is some leftover ramen in the fridge that you can microwave. I'm going to get to eat the fresh stuff! Ha!_

_3 Utau_

"Great," Ikuto muttered. He thought about eating breakfast, but didn't feel like reheating ramen. He tried to call Utau, but she didn't answer her phone. Honestly, he wasn't at all surprised. She'd probably even turned it off.

There was only one thing to do. Utau was the only one who could help with getting the plane tickets. If he didn't get the plane tickets, then he wouldn't get to go with Amu to London. This whole business with Rima and Nagihiko was turning out to be a pretty sweet deal for Ikuto. He got to work with Amu, and even if she still didn't believe that he liked her, he was just glad to be with her.

Ikuto got dressed and went to look for Utau. He walked to her favorite ramen shop, and stopped by the studio, but she wasn't at either of those places. He tried calling her cellphone again. She still wasn't answering, and Ikuto deemed any further attempt to reach her through it useless.

Although he thought of looking at the mall, he decided that would be his last resort. He had no desire to go searching through every shop in the mall trying to find her. Ikuto cut through the park on his way to another part of town where he thought she might be.

Ikuto was surprised to see his sister and Kukai walking toward him, hand-in-hand. They waved to him, and he quickened his pace to meet them.

"Utau, I need to talk to you," he said, grabbing her wrist.

"What is it?" she asked, following him with Kukai in tow.

Ikuto scowled at Kukai, but continued. "Can you get me some plane tickets?"

"Why?"

"That's not important."

"Then the tickets mustn't be important, either," Utau turned, about to leave.

"Okay, I'll tell you why I need them. But your boyfriend doesn't need to hear."

"Why not? Whatever it is, I'm sure he's fine with it."

"It has to do with Rima and Nagihiko," Ikuto explained.

"Mashiro and Fujisaki are my friends," Kukai said.

"Alright," Ikuto sighed. Utau dragged them both to a bench and they sat as Ikuto told them about what had happened.

"Rima and Nagihiko disappeared several days ago. Amu texted Rima asking her where she was, and Rima told her that she and Nagihiko had eloped."

"She was joking, though, right?" Kukai asked. Ikuto nodded.

"I think so."

"Well? What does this have to do with plane tickets?" Utau argued.

"Right. So we checked into the matter some, and it seems that both their mothers thought they were away at sleepovers. Rima's internet history had a bunch of stuff about faerie godmothers and curses and whatnot, but nothing interesting. But Fujisaki's computer said that he'd recently bought two plane tickets to Heathrow, in London. Neither of them are answering their phones, or any messages we send them. Amu is really worried."

"So you want to go to London to find them?" Utau concluded. She didn't bother asking about how he'd gotten onto their computers. Ikuto nodded.

"Fine. I'll get the tickets on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I'm coming with. And Kukai, too, if he can."

"Yeah!" Kukai pumped his fist in the air.

And that was that.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

It was late afternoon when the rush of running water could be heard. Before long, the river was in sight. We came to a clearing in the early evening and decided to set up camp and have dinner. Both of us were tired, and so were the horses. Rima went to refill our canteens with water while I studied the map. She came back a while later and put the canteens in the saddlebags.

"I'm going to take a bath," Rima said.

"What?" I asked, disbelieving.

"You heard me," she replied. "It's been nearly three days since I last had a bath, and I'm sweaty and covered in dirt from riding all day for three days in a row."

She was right. We were both dirty.

"Where are you going to take a bath?"

"In the river, of course. It's not that cold."

"Rima-chan, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"It just seems like a stupid thing to do," I shook my head.

"I don't care. I can't stand this filth any longer!"

"We're pretty close to the town. We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon, and you can take a bath at the inn."

"I don't want to wait that long," she said, taking some things out of her bag. "Stay here until I'm back." With that, she stalked off toward the river.

I set to work grooming the horses. They were filthier than either of us, and their backs were dripping with sweat, especially where their saddles had been. I was distracted from my work by two sounds I had only ever heard in movies before. The first was a bleating sound, and the second was something similar to a cowbell. I'd known we were pretty close to the next town, and there was probably farmland only a few miles off.

Glancing around, I found the source of the noises. It was a fat gray billy goat, with two long horns that protruded from his head and arched backward. It looked as if they had been filed on the ends so they wouldn't be so sharp, and he wore a large bell around his neck. The goat was surprisingly large. His head came past my waist, and I imagined he could have done some serious damage to me if he'd been so inclined.

I decided the goat must have wandered off and gotten lost. He would probably find his way home, so I ignored him and he strutted through our camp in the direction of the river. I went back to grooming the horses, occasionally poking at the fire or adding on some sticks to keep it burning. Fifteen minutes later, I was almost finished grooming Taithor when I heard Rima's voice yelling from far off.

"Nagihiko!" she called. She said something else, too, but I couldn't hear her. Realizing she must be in trouble, I grabbed my sword and ran toward the river.

There were cattails along the riverbank, and the top of Rima's head peaked over them. I glanced about to see what was wrong, but couldn't find anything threatening.

"Nagihiko!" Rima said. "Umm... the goat..." she began, but wasn't able to finish.

A force rammed into me from behind, and I dropped my sword before I felt my arms flailing about as I began to fall. There was a loud splash, and suddenly, I was submerged in the water. I surfaced, spewing water and rubbing my eyes. The river was shallow here, and I could stand easily in it. I heard a familiar bleating and everything came into focus. There was Rima, her back turned to me, halfway in the water with absolutely no clothing whatsoever.

I quickly turned away, my face becoming hot with what I could only guess was the reddest blush I'd ever managed.

**~Rima's POV~**

I walked towards the river, looking forward to being relatively clean once again. When I got to the river, I traveled along it for a short while before I came to a place with a large rock that protruded out of the grass next to a bunch of cattails growing out of the shallows of the water.

Pulling my tunic over my head, I set it on the rock and untied the string that pulled my ugly brown pants tight enough so they didn't fall off. When I'd undressed and set all my clothing on the rock, I waded into the water began to scrub the grime off my face. My arms were nearly as dirty, but the rest of me had been mostly covered and didn't collect the dust from the road as much. I washed my hair thoroughly and was glad to be rid of the grease.

I heard a clanging noise a ways away, but ignored it, thinking it was nothing. When I was finished bathing, I was about to step back out of the water, only to find that my clothes were no longer on the rock. I glanced around and spotted a fat goat chewing on something brown that looked a bit too much like my breeches.

"Me-e-e-e-eh," the goat greeted me, bobbing it's horned head up and down as it devoured the last of my clothing.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at it. However, the goat didn't seem to mind being yelled at.

Looking back at the rock, I noticed that my boots were still resting on top of it. The goat put it's front hooves on the rock and stretched its furry neck out, reaching for the boots. I was satisfied when I saw that it couldn't get them. The rock was probably too steep for the goat to jump on, anyway, so I assumed that my boots were safe. It was a good thing, too. They were the only pair of boots I had.

I stood there, waist-deep in the water for a while, thinking about what to do. I certainly couldn't go back to camp without my clothing. Should I call for Nagihiko?

No, I couldn't do that. He might laugh at me. I couldn't image how badly that would hurt my pride if I had to get my enemy to help me. Especially in _this_ situation.

I stared at the water, it's gentle current swirling it around me, and eventually sank back into it. The goat bleated softly again and again, looking for some other strange item to consume. I twirled a lock of my wet hair through my fingers, pondering my predicament.

Finally, I raised my head and looked toward the bank. Closing my eyes, I yelled as loud as I could. "Nagihiko! Come here! And bring a blanket!"

I stood back up in the water, trying to see over the cattails. Was he coming?

Sure enough, a few moments later, Nagihiko came running around the corner. But he was carrying his sword, and hadn't brought a blanket like I'd asked. He looked around, holding his sword at the ready, then relaxed when he didn't see anything.

"Nagihiko," I began explaining. "Umm... the goat..."

The goat bleated again, and suddenly, Nagihiko went flying, his sword left on the grassy riverbank. There was a loud splash, and I spun around quickly, turning my back to Nagihiko, who had just landed in the water. Rightly, my face was probably redder than Amu's record blush.

"Fujisaki! What are you doing?" I screamed at him.

His head bobbed out of the water, and he coughed several times before gasping and spinning around.

"I was pushed," he said. "Why did you call me?"

"The... the goat... it... ate... it ate my clothes."

The rush of the river seemed to get louder as the silence between us grew longer. I was surprised that Nagihiko wasn't laughing. But then, he was probably too shocked and flustered to have such a reaction.

"Okay. I'll be right back." He waded out of the water and sloshed back toward our camp. Three minutes later, he returned, holding out a blanket and facing the opposite direction, his eyes clenched shut.

Hopping out of the water, I snatched the blanket and wrapped myself in it. After retrieving my boots, we walked back to the camp and I dressed quickly behind a tree. Nagihiko sat on a log next to the fire and pulled off his wet boots, setting them next to him. He peeled off his wet tunic and put it on the other side of the boots, pulling his own blanket around him. I sat across from him on another log, staring at the ground and anywhere but the bare-chested Nagihiko.

Since I hadn't heard or seen the goat, I assumed it had gone off somewhere and was no longer a threat. I was glad that it was warm, even though the sun was barely glinting through the trees to the far west. Crickets were beginning to sing somewhere unseen, and I briefly thought that it was strange to think of something so ordinary in a place like this.

But there was one thing that was bothering me enough that my mind wouldn't let go of it. I had to ask Nagihiko.

"What did you see?" I looked him in the eye, my face stern and serious.

"Well," he began, his face becoming red. "You were turned away, and halfway in the water. And I was disoriented from being thrown in, and your hair covered a lot, so..."

"Fujisaki!" I yelled. "Just tell me!"

"I just saw your back down to your waist," he replied.

"That's all?"

"...Yes."

He couldn't lie.

I sighed in relief. What he saw was probably not even as bad as what would be seen if I were to wear a bikini.

We both sat there, ringing out our hair in silence. The fire popped and blew small breaths of smoke into the air.

The edges of the withering cattails were almost transparent as the golden hour slipped away into dusk, leaving the woods gray and lonely without the evening sun to make them glow and shed their tall shadows across the wild grasses and moss on the ground. The forest seemed sad in the short time betwixt the sleeping and waking of the day and night animals. Our fire became a well of steady life, shining relentlessly with an occasional spark spewing into the air.

Maybe it was the fact that we were in a magical place, but there was no steady river of smoke blowing constantly into your face like there would normally be. I used to hate fires because the smoke seemed to follow me however I positioned myself. This fire was much more pleasant.

My eyelids grew weighty and I found it hard to keep them from falling. Spreading my blanket on the ground, I used my satchel as a pillow, just as I had done the past two nights, and I was asleep within a few moments.

**A/N: Well, I got rid of the block. Hopefully my updates will be faster. I just got back from the last day of the ski season barbeque, so I won't be spending my time on the mountain anymore. Anyway, the questions in the last chapter still apply.**

**Please review!**


	16. In Which Nagihiko has an Epiphany

**A/N: Sorry if they're a little OOC here. Aside from reading Alex Rider all day, I've been spending a lot of time in the Soul Eater fandom, so I'm having some trouble getting back into the Shugo Chara mindset.**

Chapter Sixteen:

In Which Nagihiko has an Epiphany

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

I closed my eyes and hummed happily, my head swaying slightly from side to side. Rima was still asleep and I had wandered off to gather a bit more firewood so we could warm the rest of the now stale bread for breakfast. Something inside me was ready to overflow, and I smiled for no reason.

My feet sprung with every step, and I twirled in a circle. Something caught on my foot, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the ground with the firewood I'd gathered everywhere around me.

"Crap," I said, not wanting to pick it all back up. I was surprised to have fallen. I never tripped! I was a dancer. I was too graceful to trip! I shook my head and tried not to berate myself for it. After all, I couldn't really see where I was going with my eyes closed. But that only made me think of how stupid I had been to be walking through a forest with my eyes closed.

I began to sit up, and felt a burning in my knee. The fall had ripped a small hole in my pants and broken the skin underneath. It wasn't bad, but it still hurt.

Standing, I gathered about half of the firewood I'd dropped and walked carefully back to our camp. After piling some wood on the fire, I went to the river to wash my wound, and by the time I came back, Rima was awake.

"Where did you go, Purplehead?" she demanded, frowning.

We resumed our journey immediately after breakfast. Rima's golden curls bounced as we trotted, and she giggled quietly. I almost found myself laughing, too. Something about trotting on a horse made the rider want to laugh. Eventually, we slowed back to a walk, but Rima's smile remained. I was happy, watching her ride through the woods only a few yards ahead of me. There wasn't much to be happy about, considering our situation. With how slow things were going, it didn't seem as if we would reach the Agara tree in time. Yet something inside me was overwhelming, feeling like it wanted to burst gleefully out of my chest. And that was when the truth came to the front of my mind, and I realized that I was in love.

**~In Japan~**

Amu had left her balcony door open.

She was bending over her desk, concentrating on something, and didn't even hear Ikuto come in. He stood behind her for a while, waiting for her to notice. When several minutes passed and she didn't stir from her work, Ikuto spoke.

"Hey, Amu," he said.

Amu shouted in surprise and leapt from her seat.

"I-I-I-Ikuto!"

"You still haven't gotten over that stuttering problem?" he sighed. Amu blushed and turned her head in the other direction. "Aw, it's okay, Amu-chan. I still think you're cute," Ikuto said, snaking his arm around her waist. She jumped away from him.

"Why are you here?" Amu asked, crossing her arms.

"Look," he said, waving a piece of paper in front of her.

"Five? Why do we need five tickets?"

"Utau insisted. She and Kukai are coming."

"When do we leave?"

"Seven this evening," he replied.

"_What_?" Amu exclaimed. "But I still have to get ready! And how are you going to convince my parents to let me go?"

"I'll go talk to them right now," he said, walking toward the door with a blank expression.

"No! You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it will look strange if you come walking down the stairs when you didn't ever come through the front door."

"Good point," said Ikuto. "I'll go through the front door." And with that, he vanished by way of Amu's balcony.

A few moments later, the doorbell rang. Amu raced down the stairs, hoping to get there before her father did.

She failed.

"Who are you?" asked her father's voice. Amu began to panic as she ran through the house.

"I'm-" Ikuto stopped when Amu skidded into the entry way.

"He's my teacher!" she exclaimed. "Hi, Tsukiyomi-sensei!"

"He looks a little bit young to be teaching a high school course."

"Well... I'm Amu's... P.E. teacher," Ikuto said slowly.

"Oh, I see," her dad replied, not looking pleased. At that moment, Amu's mother appeared in the entry way.

"Hello," she said, "Please come in."

So the four of them sat in the living room, Ikuto and Amu on one side and Amu's parents on the other.

"So we're taking a field trip," Ikuto explained.

"Where will this be?" asked Mrs. Hinamori.

"London," Amu replied, without thinking.

"London? Really? Why?" her father inquired, looking at Ikuto suspiciously.

"To learn about... croquet."

"I wasn't aware that was considered P.E. I didn't think it even took much energy."

"Oh, believe me, sir, it does," Ikuto assured him.

"When do you leave?"

"This evening," he replied nonchalantly.

"Alright," Amu's mother said. "You better go pack your things, Amu."

"But, Midori!" her father wailed. "Amu can't just leave like that!" He began to start babbling, and Amu turned to Ikuto.

"Croquet? Really?" she whispered. He shrugged.

"It was the first thing that came to mind."

"Amu-chan, I told you to go get ready," her mother said, ignoring her over-dramatic father. "I'll take your _teacher_ to the door."

"Thank you, madam," Ikuto said as they reached the door.

"Good-bye, _Ikuto_," said Midori, winking. "Take good care of Amu in London. I don't know what you're up to, but I trust Amu." She shut the door behind him.

**~Rima's POV~**

It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached the next town. After dropping our horses off at the inn, Nagihiko urged me out the door and onto the dirt road that ran through the town.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The goat ate your clothes, right? So you're going to need some new ones."

Asking around, we were directed to a building with a wide porch and a large widow displaying a few gowns and some shoes. A bell rang as we entered, and a cheery girl that looked about twenty greeted us.

"What can I help you with?" she asked. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled into a tight braid, and she was wearing a plain sage-colored dress with a ruffly white pinafore.

"Rima-chan here needs some traveling clothes," Nagihiko said.

"Are you wanting something made for her or something already in the store?" she asked.

"We don't have much time," he replied.

"Alright. Take a look around, and tell me if you see anything you like."

The store was set up quite similarly to a modern clothing store. It was relatively easy to find what we were looking for.

"All this clothing is so drab," I whined as I picked out some clothes meant for young boys. Women's clothing would be impractical for our quest.

I put the possibilities in the dressing room, which was a small space covered by a curtain, like in second-hand shops in the human world. There was a mirror, too. Most of the clothing worked, since it was relatively adjustable.

"Hey, Rima-chan," said Nagihiko from the other side of the curtain, "stay there. I'll be right back."

I heard him walk off, and a few minutes later, he tossed something over the top of the curtain. I picked it off the floor and examined it. It was a periwinkle sweater made of something soft. The collar laced up in the front, with matching laces on the ends of the sleeves and in the back. I pulled it over my head on top of the drab clothing. Admittedly, I liked it. It hugged my waist and arms in a way that flattered my figure, unlike the dull tunics I'd been wearing. I grinned at myself and pulled the curtain aside to show Nagihiko.

"It looks good on you," he smiled.

"But these would be constantly coming untied," I pointed out, tugging at one of the laces on the sleeves.

"Not if you tie them right," he replied, fiddling with the string. "See? Like that."

So we bought the periwinkle sweater along with an extra tunic and a pair of trousers. For once in my life, I was on good terms with Nagihiko. Well, maybe not _good_ terms, but at least at a truce. I could think of absolutely no reason to be angry with him.

There were no suspicious ladies or monsters of any type at the inn that night, and I was glad to take a real bath. Dinner was much better than the rations we had been eating for the past few days, although some people at the other tables gave us questioning glances.

As we sat at the long counter of the inn, a lady handed us mugs of a dark pink liquid, and I was pleased to find it tasted like raspberries. She refilled our glasses several times, and I must have been really thirsty because I drank it all. It was hard to tell how many glasses of that stuff I had, since my memory became fogged, but I would regret it later.

After a while, I became really relaxed and didn't feel like moving. Fujisaki and I slumped over the counter and had another mug of the strange drink before he sat up straight in his seat and looked directly at me. "Rima-chan is the prettiest girl in the world," he announced.

"Thanks, Nagihiko," I said, giggling. "And you're the second-prettiest boy in the world!"

"Who's the first?" he asked slowly, smiling.

"Arda—Ar—_hic—_Ardaanash—something... Ardi!"

The two of us started laughing like hyenas, and bent over as we gasped for air. Two or three drinks later, I was still laughing, and I'll admit it was a lot of fun. Everything became unclear, and I don't remember much after that.

**~In Japan~**

The doorbell rang at five o'clock, and Amu answered to find the Tsukiyomis, Kukai, and Yaya on her doorstep.

"You ready to go?" asked Utau. Amu nodded and grabbed her large suitcase, which was waiting near the door.

"Bye, Mom and Dad!" she called into the house.

The five of them took a taxi to the airport, and waited in the long line going through security. Yaya got taken to the side to have her bag checked because she seemed "suspicious." So did Ikuto. The machine beeped when Utau walked through it, and she was forced to take off all of her accessories until she finally had to take out her pigtails, and it let her go through. Amu was a similar situation. No one bothered Kukai.

"Yaya's never been on an airplane before!"

"It's boring," Amu told her.

"Well, Yaya's excited!"

They bought dinner and ate as they sat around waiting for the plane. Soon enough, they were walking down the strange hallway onto the plane. When they finally took their first-class seats, Utau sat next to Kukai, and Ikuto, Amu, and Yaya sat in the row in front of them. Yaya was barely containable when the plane took off. But after a few minutes, her ears started to hurt, and she sat quietly pouting. Utau and Kukai fell asleep, her head on his shoulder, and his head on top of hers, both with their earphones in. Amu tried to entertain herself with a magazine, but Ikuto kept bothering her, and she finally gave up.

"So what's the plan when we get to London?" she asked.

"Utau has made reservations at a hotel, and we'll start our search in the morning."

"How do you plan to find them?"

"We look at hotels," he replied.

"So you're planning to walk in and ask if they've checked in? I don't think they'd give that kind of information out to just anyone," she said.

"No," said Ikuto. "You say, 'Hey, I lost my key, and I can't remember my room number.' Then they'll ask you for your name, and you simply tell them 'Fujisaki.'"

"How do you know it wouldn't be Rima's name?"

"It wouldn't be. Just think about it," he said. "Fujisaki bought the tickets, and his family is the one with all the money."

"Oh. Okay. So what happens when we find them?"

"We find out what really happened and get them to come back."

"What if they won't come back?"

"We could always inform the police. Both of them are minors in a foreign country, and below the legal age for-"

"Okay, I get it. But we wouldn't do that. If Rima and Nagi don't want to come back, we're not going to make them," said Amu. There was a long silence before she asked, "How did you get Yaya's parents to let her come?"

"Same story. And as for Kukai, that was Utau's doing," he said, glancing at them. Ikuto smirked. "You can sleep on my shoulder if you want, Amu."

"N-no way!" she exclaimed, blushing as she crossed her arms and looked away. However, half an hour later, Amu's eyes were drooping, and she let her head drop onto Ikuto's shoulder.

When they arrived in Heathrow Airport, Amu denied falling asleep on Ikuto. They picked up their bags and walked down lots of long hallways until they came to the customs area.

They showed the man at the counter their passports, but it wasn't that easy. He was suspicious of a group of teenagers and young adults coming into the country. Of course, he asked questions.

"Of what relations are you all to each other?"

"Oh, I'm they're teacher," Ikuto explained.

"You teach your sister?" he asked, pointing to Utau. "You have the same last name."

"No... she's not a student. She's..."

"His wife," Utau cut in. The man raised an eyebrow and muttered something about kids getting married so young. Utau told him that she was nineteen, and therefore an adult. The man apologized, and let them through after a few more questions. The younger Tsukiyomi clung to her brother's arm until they were out of the airport, at which point she promptly let go and grabbed Kukai's arm, instead.

**~Rima's POV~**

I woke in a small bed, staring at the rafters above me. It was a foreign sight, and I was slightly worried at first. How had I gotten there? The last thing I remembered was eating a nice dinner at the inn we were staying at. Rolling onto my side, I found my body heavy and my stomach lurched. My eyes adjusted slowly to the rest of the room.

Nagihiko was asleep in another bed on the other side of the room, mouth wide open and hair a giant purple mess. There was a small table with an oil lamp in one corner, and a dirty window let in late-morning sunlight.

Someone knocked on the door and I opened my mouth, which tasted awful, and managed to groan something similar to "come in." A wide lady bustled in, carrying a tray with some toast and ice water. Nagihiko woke and turned his head, but made no effort to rise.

"I brought some breakfast for you, in case you want it," said the lady, setting the tray on the table. "There's some water here. I hope that will help you with the hangover."

"Whaa?" I asked.

"Oh, poor dears," said the lady. "I bet you don't remember anything, do you? The two of you drank till you passed out last night. I had to get some people to help me drag you up here. Your things are under your beds."

"Wait, you mean we were drunk?" Nagihiko asked, sitting upright. He put a hand to his head and winced.

"Of course! What did you expect, drinking like that?"

"We didn't know it was alcohol," he replied groggily.

"But I'm curious," said the lady, "about your story. Why are you two here? Are you eloping?" She looked at each of us, eagerly.

I was about to tell her that we were only fifteen, but Purple-head spoke first.

"Yeah. Something like that."

My head hurt too much to really think about anything, so I just assumed he had a reason for saying that, and didn't speak my mind.

Eventually, the lady left. After hurling a few times into the chamber pot, we went downstairs and tried our best to get over our hangovers. Although some things helped, I was feeling pretty disgusting for quite a while.

I was really mad at Fujisaki about getting drunk, blaming it all on him, since he was the only one I could blame it on, and didn't speak to him for several hours of the ride that day. We rode through the forest in silence, and I swore he looked sad. It was early evening when the forest suddenly changed. Gone were the lush green trees and moss on the ground. The dirt became gravely, and there seemed to be strangely-shaped rocks all over the place. The biggest change was when the trees changed from wood to stone. A stone chipmunk was frozen in a running position, a horrified look on its tiny face. The whole forest became stone, and the horses' hooves clopped loudly against the ground.

We decided to dismount and walk through this part, just in case. The stone continued for a long time, and we walked in silence until we saw something moving. It was the only sign of life outside of ourselves that had been visible up to this point. A fat toad was rolling a large egg across the rocky ground. We stopped and stared at it, but it kept about its business and ignored us.

"Cockatrice," Nagihiko said.

"What?"

"It's a creature so ugly that if you look at it, you turn to stone. Only a weasel is immune to its gaze."

"That's impossible!" I exclaimed.

"We're not in Japan anymore, Rima. This is the faerie realm. All sorts of things are possible."

"But not that!"

He ignored me. "A cockatrice is created when a toad hatches a rooster's egg."

"Roosters don't lay eggs," I argued.

"That's why cockatrice's are rare," he said, as if it were completely logical. "Close your eyes, Rima. I'm going to put something over the horses' eyes so they don't get hurt. I'll lead us through."

I didn't argue, and we were moving again in a few minutes. Although I really hated Nagihiko right now, I wasn't taking any chances with the cockatrice thing. I didn't want to be turned to stone, and if he was going to risk it for the rest of us, then I wasn't going to argue. Placing my hand on Purple-head's elbow, I closed my eyes and let him lead me.

We tried to move as quietly as we could, as not to alert the cockatrices of our arrival. Hopefully, we would be able to pass through without any problems. Unfortunately, cockatrices have more powers than turning things into stone. They have alluring voices, coaxing you to look at them.

"Just take one little peek. I am the most beautiful creature in the universe. One glance at me, and you will be completely satisfied. You'll never need anything else ever again," it crooned. The speech wasn't that great, but something about its voice made me want to open my eyes and look at the creature that claimed to be so gorgeous.

I heard a short shriek, and Nagihiko's arm turned cold under my hand. Something slithered away, and the voice of the cockatrice ceased. Opening my eyes, I covered my mouth at the sight of Nagihiko, completely turned to stone. There had to be some sort of a cure! Sure, I hated him, but there was no way I could finish the quest without him. I opened our satchels and searched through their contents. There were several vials of strange liquids that I tried pouring over his head and into his stone mouth. I tried slapping him, and kicking his stone ankles, but it was no use. After a while, I sat on the ground and buried my face in my hands.

Something close to a sob escaped me, and I felt my hands becoming wet with salty tears. At first, I couldn't believe that I was crying over Purple-head, but then I realized that I was crying simply because I knew I needed him and it was hopeless without him. Standing, I looked into his stone eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Nagihiko. I shouldn't have been mad at you. It probably wasn't your fault about what happened last night, and I'll admit that I've been a bit unreasonable. I know that I really need your help to complete this quest, so I'm apologizing. And I promise that if you'll wake up right now and turn back into your annoying, purple-headed self, I'll try my best not to hate you. In fact, I'll be as nice to you as I can. So wake up."

Of course, nothing happened. Slumping to the ground in defeat, I sighed. What was I supposed to do? The whole situation was a mess. I soon found myself bored, and began counting my bruises and scratches. There was no way I could carry Nagihiko, and I was not going anywhere without him. If I didn't get lost, there were still countless other things that could happen to me. So I sat there, waiting for some sort of miracle to come along and help me. The horses stood in confused stillness, their eyes still covered by the cloth tied around their heads.

"Looks like you're in a predicament, huh?" said a familiar, nasal-y voice. I spun around to see Ardi sitting on his haunches, glancing between the stone Nagihiko and I. I simply nodded, my voice having failed me. The lump in my throat hurt enough that I didn't want to talk.

Ardi walked in a circle around Nagihiko. He stared at him for a while, then looked at me as if in deep thought. "Hmmm..." he said ponderously. "Have you tried kissing him yet?"

"Wh-what?" My voice suddenly returned to me. "No way! I would never do that!"

"You've done it before, haven't you?"

"B-but that was different!"

"Sure it was," he said sarcastically.

"I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because—I'm not capable!" I said, crossing my arms. "Nagihiko is my worst enemy."

"Looks like you're stuck here, then," Ardi replied, walking away. He disappeared between some stone trees and I gulped, staring at Nagihiko. Would it work? If not, was it worth it?

I sat down again, considering my options. There were really only two things I could do:

A. Kiss Nagihiko. It might work, and then we'd be on our way again. Things might be a little awkward, but we'd kissed before, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I would loose another kiss to him, at that was all. If it didn't work, I'd have kissed a stone statue, which was a bit silly, and maybe a bit embarrassing, but it wouldn't do any harm.

B. Don't kiss Nagihiko. There might be another way to undo the enchantment on him, but that might take a long time to find. Our time was limited, since Queen Titania would get impatient, eventually, and send Oberon;s servant, Puck, to get the cure, instead. Then I might never get this curse taken off me.

I weighed over the options. As objectionable as the idea of kissing either Nagihiko _or_ a stone statue was, I decided it would be worth it in the end. Getting to my feet, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Nagihiko's stone mouth. It suddenly changed from cold and awkward to warm and pleasant.

I immediately pulled away, and found myself blushing.

"Did you really mean it, Rima-chan?" he asked.

"What?" I snapped.

"What you said earlier—that you were sorry."

"Y-you heard that?" I screeched. He smirked.

"I was conscious the whole time. I just couldn't move," he replied.

**A/N: Okay, so here's a little update on how things are looking in the future. If you're not interested, feel free to skip this section.**

**My life is both exciting and a chaotic mess right now. School is over, but I will be going to Mexico for most of June. Although July I will be here for the most part, I'm gone again in August. My father is also going to be hospitalized for a while.**

**The exciting part (for me):**

**Anime Oasis Cosplay Convention was this weekend! It was probably the most epic four days of my life. I dressed as Kagami Hiiragi, and my cosplay was awesome! I also got to hug Soul and Maka, which just about made my year, excepting one other occasion.**

**I have joined the student council at my school. And the best part is that my crush is the president!**

**And the biggest thing yet: I cut my hair. It was as long as Nagi's, and now it's about the length of Amu's.**

**Things are changing, and I can't guarantee updates frequently. My mind is also preoccupied, which makes it hard to come up with plot events for this story. If you have any ideas, I welcome them. I can't seem to concentrate on anything but one specific subject that was mentioned above, and it's presenting a problem with my writing.**

**Anyway, please leave a review! I really need encouragement right now.**


	17. In Which They are Attacked by a Troll

**Does anyone else find this 'share' thing incredibly annoying?**

**Here's what happened: When I got back from Mexico, my poor laptop got really sick. It was a really nasty bug that none of the antiviruses recognize or are able to fix. It even took the computer shop people several days to clean the whole thing up. Well, all my documents disappeared because of that virus, and I wasn't really able to do anything for a long time. So this is my warning for you: WATCH OUT! There are lots of nasty trojans out there that can kill your computer or worse!**

**Anyway… that's why I haven't updated.**

Chapter Seventeen:

In Which Nagihiko and Rima are Nearly Eaten by a Troll

**~In London~**

All five of them crammed into a taxi cab, Ikuto in the passenger seat and everyone else squished in the back. Utau and Yaya were squeezed between Kukai and Amu, and it wasn't long before everyone was extremely uncomfortable. They practically burst out of the taxi when they arrived at the hotel. Utau checked in for them, and there turned out to be two elegant rooms with two double beds in each.

Amu was glad to set her bag down when they arrived in the room the girls were sharing. It was weighed down with all sorts of unnecessary things, and there was no elevator in the hotel. Utau's case wasn't much better, but she still had plenty of energy.

"Okay, girls, get your swimsuits on!" she exclaimed.

"I thought we were here to find Rima and Nagi, not to go swimming," Yaya pointed out.

"Yes, and we'll start searching first thing tomorrow. But for now, we can have some fun!"  
"Alright!" Yaya said happily, and danced into the bathroom.

**~Rima's POV~**

Something cold and wet plopped onto my nose. I wiped it off, discovering that it was a raindrop. The air suddenly seemed damp and strained, as if the sky was biting its lip, trying to keep its tears from falling. It didn't work for long. Raindrops began pelting me, and I watched them create dark spots on Firon's coat. My hair stuck to the back of my neck, and my bangs to my forehead. It wasn't long before I was wet all over.

"We need to find some shelter," said Nagihiko.

I nodded. The rain seemed to be pouring harder every minute. The ground was becoming muddy beneath our horses' hooves. The thin trees in this part of the forest provided little shelter with the rain running in heavy streams off their leaves.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing ahead of us.

"It looks like a cliff side," he replied. "There might be a cave we can stop in."

The dark sky let loose a belt of thunder that seemed to be endless, crashing loudly, softening, and becoming even louder yet. Firon pranced back and forth, but Taithor kept walking steadily towards the bottom of the cliff.

Once I'd managed to get Firon under control, I caught up to Nagihiko and we strayed from the path, which curved to the right, and headed toward the rocky cliff side. There was a sort of overhanging that created a shallow, cave-like space, which we took refuge in. The horses were happy to stay put and Nagihiko and I crawled into the opening and watched the rain fall. After a while, it became steady and the sound was calming. The smell of the wet earth was pleasant, and I found myself relaxed despite everything that was going on.

The storm seemed to have no affect on me. I felt completely safe, as if just the two of us were in the shadow of a giant wing, protected from everything outside. The space was small enough that we had to sit pretty close together. But somehow, I didn't really mind.

"So does your promise still apply?" Nagihiko asked after we'd been sitting in the cave for a while.

"What promise?"

"That you would be nicer. I recall that you promised you would be nicer if I woke up from being stone," he said.

"Maybe." We listened to the rain for a while before either of us spoke again.

Once the thunder stopped, the rain kept pouring down. It began to get darker, but we didn't have any dry wood to create a fire, and it was still raining.

"Rima-chan, I don't think we have much time left."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We probably only have a few more days to get the cure. I highly doubt Titania is big on patience, and if she sends Puck out for the cure, there's no doubt he could find it within one or two days. After all, he can fly, and we're on horseback."

"So we need to speed up our pace?" I suggested, although it was really a question.

"Something like that. Today is June 30th, the last day of June. We've been traveling for over a week now."

"What happens if we don't get the cure in time?"

"I don't know. I hate to think of that, but we'll have to do something. I guess we could always try to find Cassandra again, or maybe Ardi and Ray could help us. We're in the faerie realm, so there has to be some way to break a curse."

"Are you scared? I mean, of what might happen?" I asked quietly.

"Y-yeah," he said, although it sounded like he hadn't really wanted to say it. It only reminded me of how real our situation was.

There wasn't much light left after a half-hour of watching the rain. "Hey, Nagihiko?"

"Yes, Rima-chan?"

"I'm bored… can I braid your hair?"

Silence. I peered at his face to see if he'd heard me. In the little bit of light there was left, I could see he was smiling.

"Only if you'll let me braid yours, too," he said.

I nodded and picked up a strand of his long purple hair. I could feel myself blushing a little bit as I ran my hands through it, and I'll admit that I was kind of jealous. It was softer than my own, but it might have just been because it was so straight. I almost felt that it was unfair for a guy to have hair like this.

I created two long braids running down his back, and tied them with a piece of string, then turned around so that he could return the favor. Nagihiko's fingers were gentle as he pulled my curls back and twisted them together. It felt nice, and I was disappointed when he finished. The silence drew on, but it was restful, and there was no conflicting force in the air, like I usually sensed.

The night grew darker and colder, and the rain dwindled to a steady drizzle. Nagihiko told me to stay close, and I involuntarily moved toward him until we were huddled together. It was amazing how much colder the night was without a fire, even if we did have our blankets. That was probably why I didn't protest when he put his arm around me, and my eyes fell shut easily.

I woke before Nagihiko, when the morning sunlight was pouring into the forest and glinting off the water left on the leaves and wild grasses. The horses were grazing happily, and it was still cold enough that I didn't really want to move. I just lay there, feeling warm and drowsy. However, I soon realized that I was curled up in my worst enemy's arms, and had been that way since I'd fallen asleep the night before.

"Wake up, Nagihiko," I said, sitting upright.

"Well, that's a big improvement from 'Purple-head'," he noted. I rolled my eyes.

"We have to get going," I stated, gathering everything together. We tacked up the horses, since we'd taken everything off of them to avoid it getting damaged by the rain.

It didn't take long for us to get back on the road. The ride was long and we ate some bread for breakfast as we traveled. Neither of us spoke much for the first few hours.

"Hey, Nagihiko," I said quietly.

"Yes, Rima-chan?"

"Do you hate me?"

He looked at me in total shock. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

"Well... we're enemies, so..."

"But I've never—"

"_Do_ you hate me?"

"Rima-chan! I would give my life for you! Of course I don't hate you!"

"Why would you do something like that?" I asked, knowing that I would never sacrifice anything for him.

"Because I—well, you're... um..." he muttered something inaudible.

I dropped the subject. The tension was almost tangible, and my mind was racing. _He would give his life for me?_ Of course he would. The same went for Amu and Yaya and Kukai and probably even Tadase. I'd seen him put himself at risk many times when we were fighting Easter. Yet something felt weird. I couldn't quite place what it was, either.

Around lunch time, we came across a bridge with a troll underneath it. He stopped us and told us that we couldn't pass, because he was hungry and I guess we looked like a good meal.

"I thought that trolls liked goats," I told him.

"Goats are fine. But people are the best."

It became apparent that the troll wasn't going to going to take our word that there was another, larger human coming behind us that would make an even better meal. So Nagihiko drew his sword. The troll's big ugly hands clamped down on my arms, and he pulled me in front of him, placing one of his sharp claws against my throat. Fear roiled in my stomach like I'd never felt before. I wanted to squirm, but I couldn't even move. I felt a panicking pressure in my chest and tears began to spill out my eyes. For a few moments, I forgot to breath.

"I'll kill her if you get any closer with that sword," said the troll. Nagihiko took a step backwards and sheathed his weapon.

"Don't hurt her. If you let her go, you can eat me, instead. I'm bigger, anyway."

"Hmm... the pretty one or the bigger one..." the troll mused. His claw dropped from my neck and I let out a huge breath. "I think... I want the bigger one," he said, and dropped me. I fell onto the wood floor of the bridge and sat there, too stunned to do anything.

Nagihiko's sword came back out of its sheath, and he slashed at the troll. It evaded him easily, and they went on like this for a few minutes. It seemed as if the troll were toying with him, and could catch him if he really tried. But because of his ease, he wasn't paying much attention to anything but Nagihiko, and probably looking forward to a fine meal of roasted human. That was when I remembered the dagger that Shymaera had given me. I'd kept it hidden in my loose tunic, but hadn't had the chance to use it yet.

The troll didn't notice when I pulled myself off the ground and snuck behind him. I wasn't sure where the most vulnerable place was on a troll, or even if his skin would be thick enough to thwart my efforts. Just stabbing him in the back didn't seem good enough. The troll seemed to be built similarly to a very ugly, fat, bald and wrinkly human with discoloration in his skin. I knew how I could immobilize him, at least.

My dagger lashed out and cut the back of one of his ankles. Blue blood started to gush out, but the troll could no longer move. I cringed and got out of the way as fast as I could. Nagihiko took the opportunity of the still troll and swung his sword in one steady, hard blow. I closed my eyes and flinched. That was something that would probably scar me for life. I didn't think I'd ever forget the sound of the troll's head being lopped off and plunking onto the wooden bridge.

Nagihiko grabbed my hand and the horses' reigns and dragged us across the bridge. We got the other side and remounted, loping away from the area.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that," I said, when we slowed back to a walk.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan. I probably could have killed him some other way."

I didn't mention what he'd said to the troll.

**~In London~**

"What the heck is _that_?" Utau exclaimed. Until now, she had been enjoying her time at the pool with Amu, Yaya and Kukai. (Ikuto was sitting on the side, watching.)

The small, dog-like creature crossed its arms. "I'm a goblin."

"A... what?"

"I'm a goblin, and my name is Rayenshyryna Essraddanaldtia Ceranddrisa Kalshyadine Elmkimrynathos Morqueranrod. Most people just call me Raye."

"I don't believe this," Amu said.

"It's so cute!" Yaya exclaimed.

"That thing is not cute. It's disgusting," Utau corrected her.

"Is it real?" Kukai asked, amazed.

Ikuto just stared at the creature.

"I came here to talk to you guys," said Raye. "About your human friends, Rima and Nagihiko."

"_Where are they?_" Amu asked excitedly.

"Follow me."

So they all ended up walking through the hallways of the fancy hotel, dripping wet and wrapped in towels. All except for Ikuto, who looked stoic, and of course, Raye, who hadn't brought her filthy fur anywhere near the water.

They took the stairs to the lobby, and followed the goblin around a corner. She stopped in front of a tall woman wearing an elaborate dress with, of all things, wings. At this point, no one was all too surprised. After all, what else could be expected when they followed what looked to be a dwarf-dog cross claiming to know about their missing friends that supposedly eloped but in known reality actually hated each other?

"Ah, you found them!" said the lady, as if she were pleasantly surprised.

"Who are you?" Yaya asked.

"I'm Cassandra Vamist, Rima and Nagihiko's fairy godmother. I understand that the lot of you are searching for them. Well, I must inform you that they're on a mission of their own right now and can't be disturbed. You wouldn't want to risk interfering with anything, now would you?"

"We need to bring them back to Japan!" Amu exclaimed.

"Can't you at least take us to them?" asked Utau.

"Well, I suppose I am capable of that," said Cassandra.

"Then let's go!" Yaya said.

"I guess I'll take you… but one condition. No pink or blue hair allowed!"

"What?" Ikuto asked.

"You two," Cassandra pointed to Amu and Ikuto, "Can't come."

**A/N: I apologize for everything! I know this was short and all, and I haven't updated in months, but I'm leaving again and I wanted to get this out, first. So I'm not going to bother proofreading, so please excuse an****y lameness, boringness, or grammatical errors. Also, please review to help inspire me! I feel like I'm loosing my excitement for this story. I have everything planned, but writing it has become a bore, so I need encouragement. Review, please!**


	18. In Which They Encounter a Unicorn

**A/N: It's been about a half a year since I last updated. I actually forgot what was supposed to happen in this chapter, so the plot is going to start flying all over the place. **

Chapter Eighteen

In Which Nagihiko Learns Just How Aggravating a Unicorn can be, and Cassandra Vamist Does Some On-the-Side Matchmaking

**~In London~**

"Is this some kind of hair prejudice?" Amu demanded, placing her hands on her hips. She had grown to like her pink hair, and Ikuto's blue hair was terribly handsome, although she would never admit it aloud. After all, Cassandra hadn't had any problem with Nagihiko's _long _purple hair, which was definitely weirder than pink or blue hair of an average length for their according genders.

"Something like that," said Cassandra dismissively. "A fairy godmother must do whatever she deems necessary to accomplish certain set goals. In this case, anyone bearing pink or blue hair must remain behind while I take the others to the faerie realm."

"Faerie realm? What the heck is that?" Kukai asked.

"Why, the realm of the fae, of course."

"Fae?" questioned Utau.

"Yes. Beings such as me and Raye, here," she patted the goblin's dirty head. "Now I have very little time for explanations, so are there any more questions before we leave? No? Good." Cassandra waved a stick about in the air before anyone could speak a word, and she vanished, along with Raye, Utau, Kukai, and Yaya.

Ikuto and Amu stood in stunned silence, blinking and wondering if they were truly awake. It took a moment before, predictably, Amu began to spaz.

Yaya, Utau, and Kukai looked around their new surroundings in awe. The hotel lobby had melted away, and now they were standing in a clearing in a forest with a path running through it, and a sign directing any possible travelers to a palace of some sort.

"There," said Cassandra, putting her wand away. The goblin scampered off into the trees, her business with them finished.

"Where are we?"

"In the faerie realm. You can start your search at the palace."

"Why weren't Amu-chi and Ikuto allowed to come?" Yaya asked.

"Child, I am a faerie godmother," she replied, "Helping people's relationships is my job. In fact, that's all I'm really allowed to do. I can do anything that I think will be good for my godchildren in the long run."

"So what was the deal with their hair?" asked Utau.

"That was the only excuse I could think of to leave them alone. They need some time to work through things. I think you'll be quite surprised when you get back."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind that now. The first thing you need to do is follow this path to the palace. Ask for Queen Titania. I'm sure you'll be directed from there."

And then she disappeared.

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

After the troll incident, we ran into a couple of harpies, which we got past a bit easier than the troll. The afternoon was peaceful, and although Rima and I didn't speak much, there was no conflict.

For dinner, we stopped to make camp, and I went to gather firewood, as usual. When I came back, Rima wasn't in the small clearing we'd chosen as a camp site. Setting the wood down, I went in search of her.

"Rima-chan?" I called, but there was no answer. I broke through a particularly thick bunch of trees, and saw her.

Rima was sitting in a pool of sunlight breaking through the overgrowth, where the light had come through a hole in the storm clouds, beaming down on her. Her hair shined like a part of the light, and her relaxed face looked angelic. From a few hundred feet away, I heard something move, and turned my head. I never could have expected what was coming.

A small, white, horse-like creature pranced out of the bushes. It had a tail, in shape, like a zebra's rather than a horse's, and cleft hooves. Long fetlocks and a beard like a goat made it look surreal. Its coat and mane glistened and glimmered in the small beams of light, and the tip of the sharp horn splitting its forelock reminded me of a weapon.

A unicorn, it seemed, would be harmless. They were told to be gentle creates, as far as I'd heard. So I didn't try to interfere as I watched it dance lightly toward Rima. It sniffed her and crow-hopped backward, tossing its mane and sending shafts of light reflecting off it in all directions. Rima looked to be in a trance, and stared dully at the beast.

It returned to her—head low, neck arched. At that moment, I realized its intent. I had misjudged it, and that could be fatal. I leapt forward, reaching for Rima as I ran, but I was too slow. Before I was even a few yards away, the unicorn's horn had pierced her skin, sinking deep into the middle of Rima's tiny chest. She gasped, wide eyed, and stopped breathing for a moment. The unicorn drew back slowly, but there was no blood on its horn. Rima collapsed, and I pulled her into my arms.

"Rima-chan!" I cried, not even thinking enough to reason that I, too, might be in danger with the unicorn standing above us. There didn't seem to be any signs of bleeding, which was definitely strange. I shook her lightly, repeating her name.

"Fool," said a deep, masculine voice from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see the unicorn speaking. "She's been blessed."

I didn't know what to say, partly because I had no idea what he was talking about. Turning back to Rima, I watched her eyes gradually open.

"Nagihiko?" she asked slowly.

"Rima-chan!" I yelled, my eyes pricking with tears of relief, which I held back with all my might until the urge to weep dissolved.

She looked over my shoulder, and I was surprised that she hadn't squirmed out of my arms yet. I turned to see that she was staring at the unicorn. His big white head descended until his nose touched her forehead. Rima pulled herself to her feet.

"You've been blessed, child," said the unicorn.

"Hey! He's right!" she said happily, checking herself over. "All of my scrapes and bruises are gone, and I'm not sore anymore!"

**~Later~**

We learned that the unicorn's name was Horacio, and he followed us around—rather, he followed Rima. She took a liking to him, too. But he was always talking. He blabbered on and on about himself and how he had sensed an innocent maiden in trouble and had come to save her, and how absolutely wonderful and beautiful Rima really was. She didn't mind at all.

Although I agreed with most of what he said about Rima, every word that came out of his horsey mouth was a second hand ticking down on the timer until the point I would blow. Would that unicorn just not _shut up_?

We stopped to camp by the river again. Horacio talked non-stop while I kindled a fire and Rima un-tacked the horses. Eventually, he offered Rima a ride, explaining that it was a great honor to ride a unicorn.

He knelt for her to mount, and she wove her delicate fingers into the base of his mane as he stood. I remembered when, however brief it was, she had laced those fingers between mine, and something sad washed over me.

It was a breathtaking sight—Rima riding a unicorn. For a moment I was able to forget Horacio's obnoxious chatter and just take in the beauty of it. Tiny Rima, on a delicate, white, horse-like creature, dancing through the woods with her golden curls flying behind her. She was laughing, too. I smiled at that—knowing that Rima was happy enough to laugh even when there was nothing funny.

Rima noticed me watching her and rode to where I was, promptly sliding off Horacio's back. She glared at me.

"What's that look for?"

"What look?"

"The one you just had! You were like this," she said, and tried to imitate it. It looked silly.

"No, I wasn't. You're imagining things. I think you've been outside too long."

"Who's fault is that?" Rima demanded, crossing her arms. Her face went stern and it seemed she forgot everything in the last few moments.

"Well, it certainly isn't mine. Remember, you were the one who wanted to come to London."

"And I was right!"

"Please, Rima, let's not fight. I'm sorry."

"I hate you."

"Right," I groaned. I turned and went about gathering stones in a circle so that we could have a fire. "Would you please go get some firewood, Rima-chan?"

She didn't answer and marched off until I couldn't see her. I hadn't posed it as a command, so it wasn't as if she didn't have a choice. Horacio started blabbing on about all sorts of random nonsense as I fetched our dinner from the saddlebags and plucked some dead weeds for kindling. When ten minutes past and she hadn't returned, I became concerned. Rima couldn't carry the amount of firewood to be collected in ten minutes around here. Either she was being really picky about the firewood, or she was sitting somewhere, refusing to do any work. Or she was in trouble.

"And I was devastated!" Horacio said, in the middle of some incredibly boring story. "The faeries claimed that befo-"

"I'm sorry, Horacio," I interrupted. "I need you to stay here and watch the horses. I'm going to go look for Rima."

"Why can't I look for Rima and you watch the horses? She likes me better than she likes you, anyway."

"Because I am a human and you are a unicorn. You have a nice, sharp horn you can fend off any dangers with. You can easily keep the horses safe, but I would have a much harder time doing so on my on. Therefore, I will go look for Rima, and you can protect the horses."

"I suppose you're right," sighed Horacio. "Then I will stay here and guard the horses like they were damsels in distress."

"Good," I said, picking up my sword. "I'll be back in just a little while."

I walked in the direction I'd seen Rima go, calling her name. When that didn't work, I supposed that she probably didn't want to speak to me and wasn't going to answer no matter how much I called. So I went about my search in silence. I came across Rima kneeling on the ground and peering around a bush. The branches in this area were thick enough that I couldn't see what she was looking at.

"Rima?" I asked quietly.

"Shh!" she hushed, beckoning for me to join her.

"What is it?" I whispered as I knelt next to her.

"Look," she said, and moved a branch carefully. I looked through the opening, and it took a moment for the sight to sink in.

It was a full caravan of gypsies. They had big draught horses with long braided manes, tied to the back of the wagons. There were five wagons, forming a semi-circle around a large campfire with a spit.

"Gypsies," I breathed, watching a man with fancy clothing pick up a string instrument.

"What are they doing?" Rima asked.

"They're travelers, like us. Except that's they're job. They travel around and try to make money."

"Oh. Are they friendly?"

"I don't know. But I'd rather not take any chances."

"Okay."

Rima and I picked up some firewood on the way back to our camp. She seemed to have gotten over whatever she was mad at me for, and I was glad of it. Horacio trotted towards us the moment we came into view.

"Do you have any idea how dreadfully bored I was?" He asked. "I stood by the horses for a while, and then I tried to speak to them. They're really rather dim creatures, aren't they? They never said a word in response. They just stared at me dully and went on munching grass. And then a chipmunk came along and I thought it might have been something much larger and more dangerous, so I charged at it. It was so frightened that it froze and then passed out and it hasn't woken since. It's over there by the saddlebags. And then-"

"Horacio, wouldn't you like to have something to eat?" I offered.

"I doubt you have anything that would be edible for me."

"Then why don't you go find some dinner for yourself?"

"That sounds like a marvelous plan," he agreed, and trotted away. We dumped the firewood on the ground and I began arranging it inside the circle of rocks.

"Doesn't he annoy you?" I asked, wondering how Rima seemed to put up with the unicorn.

"Actually, I'm rather fond of him," she said, sticking her nose in the air.

"Sure you are," I nodded.

"He's the only unicorn I've ever met!"

"And hopefully it will stay that way," I added.

"You're just jealous."

"Why would I be jealous," I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She blushed.

"Of me! I got to ride a unicorn!" she said quickly.

"I couldn't care less about the unicorn," I sighed. It was the curse, again. Rima handed me some kindling, looking in the other direction.

"Would you get the map out, Rima?"

She did so and began studying it as I lit the fire. "It seems that there is one more town before we have to start across the mountain. I don't know how long it will take us to reach there."

"It looks like half-day journey," I said, looking over her shoulder. She thrust the map into my hands.

"How long until we reach Erayu?"

"That depends on the obstacles the mountain will present. I'm guessing four days."

"And then what?"

"And then we have to get back to Titania as quickly as possible. If Puck is able to bring the cure to her, first, then we're out of luck."

"Hello!" said a nasally voice. Rima and I both jumped and turned to see Ardi sitting on his haunches next to our fire.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just came to check up on you. Have you broken the curse yet?"

"Of course not! Does it look like we're anywhere near where we're supposed to go?"

"No. I just thought that mayhaps . . . you would have figured something out, now that-" he began, but cut himself off. "Nevermind. That's none of my business. Is there anything I can do?"

"Can you tell us how to get rid of a unicorn?" I asked. Rima punched my arm.

"Better than that! I can get rid of him for you! Where is he?"

"Somewhere over that way," I pointed to where Horacio had gone.

"Okay. See ya!" Ardi disappeared.

Horacio didn't come back by the time Rima and I went to sleep. But I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps.

**~Somewhere else in the Faerie Realm~**

__"Excuse me," Utau said, stopping a faerie who was passing them. "We're looking for Queen Titania."

"You'll need an audience to see the queen. She's free right now, though, so I can probably arrange something. Follow me."

They followed him to a huge set of double doors. He left them on one side and went in. It was several minutes later that he emerged, and nodded to them.

"What?"

"She says she can see you now."

The doors opened wider and Utau, Kukai, and Yaya stepped into a giant throne room. At the end of it was a raised dais upon which sat an elegant faerie.

"What are these people doing here?"

"You just said they could come in, Milady," explained the faerie that had lead them there.

"But not looking like that!"

That was when they realized that they were still wearing their swimsuits.

**A/N: Please review!**


	19. In Which Feelings Change Yet Again

**A/N: I recommend re-reading the last chapter before you read this one, because it's been so long you've probably forgotten just what's going on.**

Chapter Nineteen:

In Which Feelings Change Yet Again

Of course, it wasn't Utau's fault that she was standing in the throne room of the queen of the faeries wearing a bikini. And it wasn't as if anyone could have helped the fact that Yaya had a duct-taped floaty toy around her waist, and blow-up bands on her upper arms. Nor was it Kukai's fault that he was wearing only a pair of swim trunks. And it was certain that none of them were to blame for their dripping hair.

Silence filled the throne room.

The queen averted her eyes.

"What sort of horrid fashion statement are these humans trying to make?"

"We were swimming!" Yaya explained, as if that justified everything.

"Why would you choose to go swimming right before an audience with the queen?"

"We didn't _choose_ to come here!" Kukai interjected.

"Of course you did," said Titania.

"We're looking for our friends," Utau said.

"My, my, what a surprise," the queen replied dully. "They wouldn't happen to both have long hair? One tall and the other short?"

"That's them!" Yaya exclaimed. "Rima-tan and Nagi!"

"I sent them on a nearly impossible quest."

There was another silence. None of the three kids knew how to respond. They weren't sure if she was joking, or exaggerating, or telling the truth. And if she was, then what?

"What sort of quest?" Kukai asked.

"They must retrieve a cure from the Agara Tree and bring it to me. I've just sent my messenger, Puck, out after the same cure. If he brings it back before them, then they fail."

"How long do they have?"

"Just a matter of days, I assume. Puck is very efficient. He left this morning. I suppose that if your friends want to complete the quest, they'll have to have already gathered the cure by now. Humans like them take such a dreadfully long time to travel."

**~In London~**

". . ."

". . ."

"So . . . now what?" Amu asked, twiddling her thumbs. She'd changed into her regular clothes, and she and Ikuto now sat on a couch in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for something to happen.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"That depends on how much time we have to kill."

"Well I don't know how long they're going to take to get back here. They could be back in a few minutes or in a few days. So we could go somewhere, and if they're here when we get back, then great, and if they're not, then oh well."

"Where would we go?"

"Where do you want to go?" Ikuto responded.

"I don't know! You've been here before, haven't you? You should know," said Amu.

"Hmm . . . How about the London Eye?"

"What?"

"It's the largest Ferris-wheel in the world."

"I thought you didn't like rides," Amu pointed out.

"When did I ever say that?"

"Nevermind. I'm hungry. How about dinner?"

"Fine with me."

They walked down the street and found a restaurant that seated them at a wooden table. A waiter asked them what they would like to drink.

"I'd like a Shirly Temple, please," Amu said.

"We don't serve that here," said the waiter, sternly.

"Oh." Amu looked at the menu in her hands.

"Then get her a sprite and some grenadine and a glass to put it in," Ikuto said to waiter, equally as sternly. He nodded and walked away.

"You didn't have to bother. I could have had something else," Amu mumbled.

"It's not like it's that hard to make," said Ikuto, leaning back in his seat. "If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get. Besides, it's my sister's money we're spending." He grinned, and she grinned back at him.

"You know-"

"She won't notice the difference," he put his hand up to silence her.

The waiter brought their drinks, a sprite for Amu with a shot-glass full of grenadine. She poured the entire thing into her glass, and later wished she hadn't.

"Thanks, Ikuto."

**~Nagihiko's POV~**

When I woke, there was something above me. A roof. It certainly hadn't been there last night.

Morning sunlight was coming into the little room through two windows on either wall and one on the door. I tried to sit up. That was when I realized my hands and feet were bound. Using my back strength, I pulled myself upright and looked around the small room. It seemed to be a full house fit into one tiny space, only lacking a bathroom. There was a little wood stove, and a bunch of cabinets along the walls. At the end was a built-in bunk bed, curtains for each.

Rima lay on the floor next to me, also tied. She was still asleep.

"Rima!" I hissed, nudging her with my foot. She didn't stir. "Rima-chan!" There was no answer, so I scooted forward to check that she was okay. "Rima!" I insisted, louder.

"Shut up, Purplehead."

I did.

And waited.

Rima turned over, groaning.

"Ouch," she muttered, and opened her eyes. And blinked. And blinked again. And shut them. Tightly. "Where are we, Nagihiko?"

"Umm..."

"Where _are_ we?" she demanded, eyes still clenched shut.

"I don't know, Rima-chan. I think the gypsies kidnapped us."

"Okay. That's all right. I'll just wake up now."

"You're not dreaming, Rima."

"That's what you think, stupid cross-dresser."

"Okay then, wake up."

She opened her eyes.

"Nagihiko, why are you staring at me?"

"I'm not."

"You were. It's creepy to stare at people when they're sleeping."

"I wasn't staring at you."

"Yes, you were. Maybe that's why I was talking to you in my dream."

"Did you dream that the gypsies kidnapped us?"

"That's _really _creepy! You were reading my mind, too, you weirdo!"

"No. The gypsies really did kidnap us."

"Don't be stupid."

"Look around," I said. She did.

"I can't lie, Rima. The gypsies kidnapped us."

She was speechless. I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't know what to say in her situation, either. It took her a few moments, but she finally managed, "What are they going to do with us?"

"I don't know. Maybe they'll sell us as slaves. Or they'll train us to eat fire and swallow swords and make us join their traveling show. Or maybe—"

"Stop. I get the point. Now what?"

"What do you think, Rima? We'll just politely ask them to let us go, and if we're really, super nice about it, and tell them we forgive them for kidnapping us, then they'll oblige."

"Okay, okay! What's your plan, then, genius?"

I thought about it. Obviously, the first thing was to get untied. But if the gypsies came back and saw us trying to get loose, then we'd be in trouble.

I leaned against the wall and pushed myself just a little bit upwards, trying to slide my bound hands beneath me. I was able to get them to my knees pretty easily, but my legs were long enough that it took a good amount of effort to finally get my hands in front of me.

"Turn around," I told Rima, and worked at untying her hands. "When I'm done, I'll need you to untie my hands, and then we can untie our feet, and we'll figure the rest out from there."

It all went smoothly until we were working on the ropes around our ankles. That was when the wagon lurched, and suddenly, we were moving.

"Nagihiko!" Rima wailed.

"I can't do anything about it! Just finish as fast as you can and we'll find a way out of here."

We threw the ropes aside and I helped her up, placing our hands against the walls as the floor rattled beneath us. I staggered to the door and fumbled to get it open. It finally swung outward, and my stomach lurched as I watched the ground rushing past.

"We're going to have to jump," I told Rima. "When you hit the ground, start rolling. It will do less damage that way."

"You want me to _jump_?" she gaped at me.

"Yes. I'm done arguing with you. As soon as I hit the ground, you jump out. Okay?"

She shook her head, but I knew she would do it. I'd ordered her. Not that I'd meant to, it was just the way the words came out. I counted to three in my head, swinging forward with each count, and flung myself off the wagon. Thankfully, the vardo wasn't going nearly as fast as I'd though, and when I hit the ground and started rolling, it did little more to me than force out an "oof!" Rima was right behind me. We came to a stop, and I grabbed her hand and pulled her up, dragging her with me as I dashed toward a cluster of trees. Hopefully, our captors hadn't noticed.

It took us quite a while to find the place where we'd made camp last night. The horses were still there with all our stuff, and so was Horacio, munching on some moss and looking surprised to see us.

"Where did you guys go?" he asked.

"We didn't _go_ anywhere. We were _kidnapped_! By gypsies!" Rima exclaimed. "Where were you? Frolicking through a field of daisies?"

"I was-" Horacio began.

"Please don't answer that," I cut in, quickly. "Thank you for keeping the horses safe, but we need to be on our way, now." I gave Rima a boost onto her horse and glanced over my shoulder at Horacio as we trotted away. His horsey mouth was hanging open. It was hilarious to see such an elegant creature looking so offended. He could easily have caught up to us if he'd wanted.

**~Rima's POV~**

"According to the map, we're supposed to have just passed through a town," I said, trying to hold the partially-folded map steady as we rode.

Nagihiko frowned. "I can guarantee you that we haven't been anywhere near civilization today."

"Please don't tell me we're lost," I groaned.

"You're probably just reading the map wrong," he pointed out, urging his horse closer until I could hand him the map. His brow furrowed as he studied it. Then he lit up. "Ah! See here, Rima. We're on _this_ path, and we're heading toward the mountains. In fact, we should be reaching the foothills this evening. We can camp there before we go up."

He was right, and we made it there earlier than he'd expected. The trees grew thinner, and the number of conifers increased the further we went. Nagihiko built a fire while I removed the horses' tack and spread out some food for our dinner.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, and turned only to find it had vanished. There was another movement directly in front of me, and then another, and I watched as little white dots floated to earth. Holding out my hand to catch one, I couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Nagihiko, it's snowing!" I exclaimed.

I let out a giggle, which turned into a little laugh, even though nothing was at all funny. Suddenly, I had the strangest urge to dance, and I spun around a few times, my hair swishing and twirling behind me, catching the snowflakes as they grew bigger and fluffier.

A few moments later I stopped abruptly as something clamped around my wrist.

"Nagihiko?" I questioned, looking into his abnormally stern face. "Isn't the snow pretty?"

"It's not a matter of _pretty_, Rima. Don't you realize what this means?"

"It's going to get colder?"

"Exactly. Right now, snow is our enemy. If we have to trudge through a bunch of snow to get over that mountain, it will slow us down a lot. More than that, we're likely to freeze to death."

I jerked my hand away and went to sit by the now-steady fire. The snow was falling all over me and getting in my hair, and I knew it would be a matted mess soon enough. Had I not been mad at Nagihiko, I would have asked him to braid it for me. Instead, I did it myself, my fingers growing cold and numb as I worked. I was surprised at how offended I'd been. It's not like he hadn't said mean things before. And I found myself thinking that maybe I actually did like him, after all.

That night, we slept side-by-side in hopes of staying somewhat warmer. I could feel his presence next to me, a distinct Nagihiko-like aura emanating from him. And when I glanced briefly at his face, the air seemed to grow a little bit warmer. It was pleasant. Nonetheless, I wasn't speaking to him.

The snow had stopped falling, and none of it stuck on the ground, so we weren't soaked. I stared at the night sky in silence, not sure if Nagihiko had already fallen asleep, and watched something large flutter past. It was definitely not a bird.

**A/N: So now you know I didn't abandon this. Anyway, if you'd like to read stuff from me more often, check out my blog. I will have a link on my profile, but you can also type it in by deleting the spaces: the ninja gang dot word press dot com.**

** I hope to finish this story in maybe three or four more chapters.**

** Please review!**


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